Currently Clearpath has around 600 clients and brings in "eight figures" in revenue. Its robots are working on production lines for companies including Toyota, Caterpillar and General Electric and sell for around £50-100,000. They are powered by machine learning algorithms which enable the robots to teach themselves how to perform tasks and build up intelligence as they work. So far, Gariepy assures me, there have been no incidents to speak of. Rather than resent them, Gariepy insists their human colleagues have afforded the robots names – Rosie, Robbie and R2D2 are particularly popular – and even ascribed them personalities.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among several major tech industry figures and researchers who've signed an open letter urging the United Nations to regulate the use of military weapons powered by artificial intelligence. In the letter from the Future of Life Institute -- which Musk is a backer of -- the 116 signees express their concern over weapons that integrate autonomous technology and call for the U.N. to establish protections that would prevent an escalation in the development and use of these weapons. Autonomous weapons refer to military devices that utilize artificial intelligence in applications like determining targets to attack or avoid. Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend.

There's a perception of what artificial intelligence and machine learning mean to the breadth of the workforce: Truck drivers, middle managers, factory workers, even the programmers who teach the machines, all destined to unemployed years spent sprawled on the couch, watching soap operas, eating pizza, and swilling beer. Granted, some out there might think that's a mighty fine way to live out their years. While all of us have thoughts about what AI means to the workplace, MIT assembled a panel of five experts who are close to the action, including several who build intelligent systems. They spoke at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Cambridge, Mass., last week, on a panel discussion entitled "Putting AI to Work." Josh Tenenbaum, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, noted that most AI applications today are based on pattern recognition. "There are things that robots can't do, like when the unexpected happens…It's not like they are going to replace humans any time soon." Tenenbaum cited as an example of "the unexpected" a scenario where if someone in the front row of the audience of 800 IT executives and thought leaders was having a medical emergency, "I could jump down off the stage and try to help."

Not every artificial intelligence venture is a startup. In fact, there's a sizable community of established entrepreneurs that are well ahead of the AI game: Waterloo, Ont. It's home to a burgeoning population of robotics/AI companies, many of which have landed substantial VC financing deals over the years. Aeryon Labs, a developer of unmanned aerial systems (drones) for example, raised $60 million of growth equity from Summit Partners in October 2015. Clearpath Robotics, makers of autonomous mobile robots, raised $30 million in October 2016 from backers that include the venture arms of Caterpillar and General Electric Co. Thalmic Labs, creators of interactive wearable technologies (the Myo gesture control armband), received close to US$120 million, led by Intel Capital, the Amazon Alexa Fund and Fidelity Investments Canada in September 2016 – one of the biggest Canadian VC deals in history.

Clearpath Robotics was founded six years ago by three college buddies with a passion for building stuff. Its 80 employees specialize in all-terrain test rigs like the Husky, a stout four-wheeled robot vehicle used by researchers within the Department of Defense. They make drones too, and have even built a robotic boat called the Kingfisher. But there is one thing they will never, ever build: a robot that can kill. Clearpath is the first and, so far as we can tell, only robotics company to pledge not to build killer robots.