A United Nations report released today proposes having the international body oversee the first truly global effort for monitoring and governing artificial intelligence. The report, produced by the UN secretary general's High Level Advisory Body on AI, recommends the creation of a body similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to gather up-to-date information on AI and its risks. The report calls for a new policy dialog on AI so that the UN's 193 members can discuss risks and agree upon actions. It further recommends that the UN take steps to empower poorer nations, especially those in the global south, to benefit from AI and contribute to its governance. These should include, it says, creating an AI fund to back projects in these nations, establishing AI standards and data-sharing systems, and creating resources such as training to help nations with AI governance.

Are you ready for Skynet? What about synths destroying the colonies of Mars as seen in Picard? With so much fiction bleeding apocalyptic images of artificial intelligence (AI) gone wrong, we'll take a look at some possible scenarios of what could actually happen in the rise of artificial intelligence. While many researchers and computer experts aren't worried, new technologies need risk-assessment. But, some high profile scientists like Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking sounded the alarm years ago, and there is some reason for concern.

The list of existential threats to mankind on which wealthy philanthropists have focused their attention -- catastrophic climate change, pandemics and the like -- has a new addition: artificially intelligent machines that turn against their human creators. Artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a threat "greater than the danger of nuclear warheads, by a lot", according to Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car maker Tesla. As the author James Barrat put it, a superhuman intelligence, equipped with the ability to learn but without the ability to empathise, might well be Our Final Invention. Even if the machines are not going to kill us, there are plenty of reasons to worry AI will be used for ill as well as for good, and that advances in the field are coming faster than our ability to think through the consequences. Between facial recognition and autonomous drones, AI's potential impact on warfare is already obvious, stirring employee concern at Google and other pioneers in the field.

Automation could be so much more than just a buzzword if we let it be. The practice of automation sits at the heart of countless exciting technologies, giving space for risk-taking and innovation. Unfortunately, rather than deploy AI in meaningful ways, companies have co-opted the automation AI makes possible to power cost-cutting efforts. Sadly, this has nothing to do with the technology. By relegating automation to exclusively target cost-cutting strategies, we strip it of its real power.

With predictions of automation taking over and mass unemployment, it's hard not to feel panicked. Wed 31 Jan 2018 05.00 EST Last modified on Wed 31 Jan 2018 07.41 EST Read the news and you'll see scary headlines telling you robots are coming and your job and business may well be on the line. But there are real opportunities for those willing to adapt and pay attention. At a Guardian Business Made Simple panel discussion in London last month, my fellow panellists and I debated how AI and other technologies are transforming where and how we work. Challenges lie ahead undoubtedly but, as the recent Workplace of 2025 study shows, there is a real possibility that the future of your workplace will feel better, more suited to how you like to work and much less mundane – and that is good for business, productivity and workplace engagement.

The technology industry is plagued with buzzword bingo in support of the fashion driven nature of the technology beast. Often confusing and occasionally downright ridiculous, we're never going to prevent smart ass marketers, ably supported by their anal-yst surrogates from making stuff up. The least some of us can do is make clear what is under discussion without mindlessly parroting what others say or conflating one concept with another. The latest in this stream of marketing laden garbage is AI or Artificial Intelligence, smeared with ML or Machine Learning and DL or Deep Learning. Add a soupçon of'robotics' just to amp the volume to something people can'get' and you have the potential for an exotic mix that both captivates the sentient mind but can also plant fear.

The technology industry is plagued with buzzword bingo in support of the fashion driven nature of the technology beast. Often confusing and occasionally downright ridiculous, we're never going to prevent smart ass marketers, ably supported by their anal-yst surrogates from making stuff up. The least some of us can do is make clear what is under discussion without mindlessly parroting what others say or conflating one concept with another. The latest in this stream of marketing laden garbage is AI or Artificial Intelligence, smeared with ML or Machine Learning and DL or Deep Learning. Add a soupçon of'robotics' just to amp the volume to something people can'get' and you have the potential for an exotic mix that both captivates the sentient mind but can also plant fear.