Two of the most polarising words in the English language at the moment (aside from "Donald Trump") must be "artificial intelligence". Last week, Big Tech ramped up a campaign intended to convince people that robots will not take their jobs. Executives from Intel and Tesla testified in a US House subcommittee meeting on the challenges of AI, dismissing many public concerns. Others including Google chief economist Hal Varian gave interviews pushing the idea that AI is the labour solution to shrinking birth rates in rich countries. Yet, this charm offensive coincided with a series of events that cast a different light on the tech industry.