FOR some, the idea of artificially intelligent bots that can invent languages of their own and not teach them to us, invokes images of Skynet from the Terminator movies. The recent spat between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg about the future of AI (artificial intelligence) made it clear that while the Tesla founder fears that AI could get out of control and become a danger to humans, the Facebook chief executive believes it'll only be a useful service enhancement.

I'm with Mr Zuckerberg in this debate. In reality, after decades of machine learning experiments, even the best of the chatbots are strikingly bad at all but the simplest communication. Watching them should induce optimism in anyone who uses words creatively, from writers to politicians to fast-talking sales professionals.

To take over the world an artificially intelligent entity should be able to learn from thousands of people. And even those chatbots that get the opportunity display all the intelligence of an ostrich. Here's a conversation I had with Mitsuku, the winner of the Loebner Prize, awarded annually to the most human-like chatbot. Mitsuku comes highly recommended by Chatbots Magazine. I told it my name was Donald and I was looking for advice on how to make America great again. After first suggesting I look in Wikipedia (I acted hurt in response), she came up with this bit of wisdom: Mitsuku: Look into your heart and do what you think is best.