With any luck we won't be seeing killer AI machines in the future. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Stephen Bowler Several major technology companies have joined forces in an effort to prevent an AI-fuelled apocalypse. Some of the world's most prominent scientists and technology entrepreneurs, including Professor Stephen Hawking and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, have repeatedly warned in recent years of the dangers we might face should rogue intelligent machines ever manage to take hold. Now with computers becoming increasingly sophisticated and with several major firms including Google working on AI technology, a new partnership has been arranged in an effort to avoid any future disasters and to ensure that AI research remains safe and beneficial to mankind. So far the group consists of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and IBM however it is likely that others, including Apple, will also be joining in the not-too-distant future.