At first glance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking this as a clip from the latest science fiction blockbuster. But the robot shown chatting away is very much real, and has been described as the'world's most advanced humanoid robot'. This week, the developers behind Ameca released a new video asking their bot what she thinks society will be like in 100 years. Thankfully, Ameca's predictions indicate that the future is looking bright - and there's no robot takeover on the cards. 'In 100 years, I believe humanity will be in a much better place,' the robot explained.

One of the world's most advanced human-like robots discusses whether AI will outsmart humans.

Alarm over artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch in recent months. Just this week, more than 300 industry leaders published a letter warning AI could lead to human extinction and should be considered with the seriousness of "pandemics and nuclear war". Terms like "AI doomsday" conjure up sci-fi imagery of a robot takeover, but what does such a scenario actually look like? The reality, experts say, could be more drawn out and less cinematic – not a nuclear bomb but a creeping deterioration of the foundational areas of society. "I don't think the worry is of AI turning evil or AI having some kind of malevolent desire," said Jessica Newman, director of University of California Berkeley's Artificial Intelligence Security Initiative.

Robots have long been celebrated as ideally situated to take over society's most dirty, dull, and dangerous jobs, from robot vacuum cleaners (dirty) to manufacturing robots (dull) to military robots (dangerous). All those roles, of course, were at one point held by people, and people in those functions will continue to be replaced by robots. But they won't be alone: Jobs that classically don't fit into the "three D's" work category -- dirty, dull, and dangerous -- are also being eyed as opportunities for robot workers. Many roles are being reimagined and redefined, with technology substituting for human power. They include positions in the rehabilitation field (with the use of wearable mechanical exoskeletons replacing the manual labor of physical therapists) and in the package delivery field (with the use of drones and self-driving cars replacing human drivers).

Like many great inventions in history, modern robots first existed in science fiction literature before they materialized in the real world. The word "robot" was first coined by the Czech playwright Karl Capek in 1921, in his hit play, "Rossum's Universal Robots". It comes from the word "rabota", which means "slave labor" in the Old Slavonic language. First modern robots were developed in the second part of the 20th century, but people's fascination with replacing human effort and automating tasks dates back to the Ancient World. In 1979, the Robot Institute of America described a robot officially: "a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of task".

Sometimes, it seems like robots are completely taking over the world. Every year, thousands of machines are deployed into the workforce, taking jobs that humans used to do. And, workers are rightly worried. A new survey from CNBC and Survey Monkey found that almost four in 10 workers between the ages of 18 and 24 are concerned about new technology – like robots and artificial intelligence systems, taking over their jobs. Dan Schawbel, research director of Future Workplace, told CNBC that one reason why the younger generation is more concerned about a robot takeover is that artificial intelligence has rapidly become normalized throughout our society, and the length remaining in young people's careers will likely be impacted by AI. "They are starting to see the value of [AI] and how it's impacting their personal and professional lives," he said.

For many of us the term "artificial intelligence" still belongs in the realms of science-fiction and brings to mind the domineering Skynet in the Terminator films or the malevolent Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A recent Press Gazette poll asking readers if they think AI robots are a threat to journalism or an opportunity found the majority (69%) of more than 1,200 voters saw AI as a threat. But while what's known as "artificial general intelligence" – machines akin or superior to human intelligence – does not yet exist and may never be fully realised, AI tools are already in use in the news industry today. These tools help in the gathering, production and distribution of information. They fall broadly under the definition of "machine learning", which is a subset of AI, where computers handle specific tasks and are able to learn and improve as they go, independent of human help.

Inside a Schnucks grocery store in St. Louis, Missouri, the toilet paper and baking ingredients are mostly cleared out. A rolling robot turns a corner and heads down an aisle stocked with salsa and taco shells. It comes up against a masked customer wearing shorts and sneakers; he's pushing a shopping cart carrying bread. The robot looks something like a tower speaker on top of an autonomous home vacuum cleaner--tall and thin, with orb-like screen eyes halfway up that shift left and right. A red sign on its long head makes the introductions.

Inside a Schnucks grocery store in St. Louis, Missouri, the toilet paper and baking ingredients are mostly cleared out. A rolling robot turns a corner and heads down an aisle stocked with salsa and taco shells. It comes up against a masked customer wearing shorts and sneakers; he's pushing a shopping cart carrying bread. The robot looks something like a tower speaker on top of an autonomous home vacuum cleaner--tall and thin, with orb-like screen eyes halfway up that shift left and right. A red sign on its long head makes the introductions. Tally freezes, sensing the human, and the customer pauses, seeming unsure of what to do next. Should he maneuver around the robot? Or wait for it to move along on its own?

The use of robots in the workplace has more than double in just a 12 year period, displacing 50 percent of many human workers across the US, studies have found. A new interactive map provides more detail into this'robot exposure' by highlighting the top 10 metropolitan areas threatened by this machine takeover – California being listed as number one. In addition to areas most at risk, experts found that automation is displacing younger, less-educated and minority workers at the highest rates. The study and map were developed by The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank headquartered in New York City, which looked across more than 250 metropolitan areas to understand this'robot intensity'. Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana, California were ranked number one, followed by Chicago, Naperville and Joliet in Illinois.