The machines have risen, but there's no need to panic

WE have been anticipating their arrival for decades. As far back as 1958, The New York Times wrote a story about a machine developed at Cornell University called the Perceptron. The device was said to be "the embryo of an electronic computer . . . expected to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its own existence".

In 1958? That would have been an astonishing achievement in a time even before the microwave oven graced our kitchen countertops.

For the past half century, humanity has been eagerly anticipating the age of artificial intelligence (AI); imagining it in Hollywood and reporting on its progress in the media. Perhaps at times our optimism has gotten ahead of itself. Not any longer. This time, the machines are not just coming - they are already here.