CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, said that fear over the future of AI is “healthy and necessary”, adding: “I honestly think that if you’re not a little bit afraid at this moment then you’re not paying attention.”

He later added: “If we can’t control it, it isn’t going to be on our side. It’s going to overwhelm us”.

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and tycoon, whose com­pany is invest­ing heav­ily in arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, said it was “the greatest solu­tion that man­kind has ever cre­ated”.

He singled out AI’s poten­tial to revolu­tion­ise health­care pro­vi­sion within the next dec­ade.

But he also pre­dicted it would cre­ate huge upheavals, and urged gov­ern­ment to tax tech titans con­trolling the tech­no­logy more heav­ily.

Mr Gates said: “AI at the same time is the greatest solu­tion that man­kind’s ever cre­ated, and yet such an amaz­ing change agent, that in the hands of people with bad intent it cre­ates lots of scary scen­arios.”