Artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that some fear could destroy humanity, has hit another milestone when Google’s game-playing system AlphaGo defeating a human master at the Chinese game Go, considered the world’s most complex board game. The machine won definitively, taking five out of five matches.

At the World Economic Forum at the Swiss resort of Davos, experts presented the future of artificial intelligence, which is expected to become the cornerstone of a technology-driven industrial revolution.

With AI, robots can understand language, read text, understand emotions and, more importantly, the "next generation of robots" may have similar human self-learning abilities, and be able to adapt to the environment. Some even predicted that at advanced stages of artificial intelligence the computer will surpass the human brain.

A robot waiter serves coffee. (File Photo)

Two years ago, the famous physicist Stephen Hawking said success in creating AI "would be the biggest event in human history, (but) unfortunately, it might also be the last," unless we know how to avoid this risk.

With machines getting more and more intelligent, humans attach more dependence on machines. Will artificial intelligence be reliable and controllable? Will robots in the workforce cause humans to lose their jobs? Will robots someday control human beings? It is normal that we are concerned about the development of artificial intelligence, but we do not need to be panic.

In fact, the development of artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing, raising expectations of radical changes and greater convenience in people’s lives. For example, technologies such as voice recognitions in smart phones and image identification in electronic payments. And robots work efficiently, tirelessly, and accurately on production lines. 

The article is edited and translated from the Chinese version of 《下围棋输给机器该担忧吗》, source: People's Daily.