The Bible maintains that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong", but, as Damon Runyon used to say, "that is the way to bet". As a species, we take the same view, which is why we are obsessed with "races". Political journalism, for example, is mostly horserace coverage – runners and riders, favourites, outsiders, each-way bets, etc. And when we get into geopolitics and international relations we find a field obsessed with arms "races". In recent times, a new kind of weaponry – loosely called "AI" – has entered the race.

Machine learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio has signed a letter with global AI experts and organizations, vowing to play no role in the creation of autonomous weapons, according to a report from CNN. The letter published online features signatories and input from over 160 AI-related companies and organizations, and 2,400 researchers from 36 countries, who are calling for a global ban on the development of lethal autonomous weapons. The purpose of the letter was to bring together governments and AI leaders to commit to "neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade, or use of lethal autonomous weapons." "In this light, we the undersigned agree that the decision to take a human life should never be delegated to a machine." Other Canadian institutions and companies that have signed the letter include the Vector Institute, Element AI, Clearpath Robotics, and the Canadian Association for Artificial Intelligence.