Could Artificial Intelligence signal the end of the human race?

Robots taking over the world - and wiping out the human race. Such tales of doom are popular fodder for sci-fi films, like Terminator.

But now one of the world's most respected theoretical physicists, Professor Stephen Hawking, has warned that what's now considered fiction could become fact in years to come.

In an interview with the BBC he said that Artificial Intelligence threatens human survival.

The scientist who has motor neurone disease made the comments while he was discussing a new software system designed to help him communicate more easily.

He says the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have already proved very useful, but he fears the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.

Murray Shanahan is Professor of Cognitive Robotics at Imperial college London, and we ask him how seriously we should take Professor Hawking's warnings