In the early years of the USSRThe United Socialist Soviet Republic, the USA's main rival in the Cold War before it collapsed and broke up into a number of smaller states in 1991., Soviet writers were engaged in an exciting utopianImpossibly perfect. The term comes from an ancient Greek phrase meaning "no-place" invented by Henry VIII's chancellor, Sir Thomas More, in 1516, as the name of an imaginary, ideal island. project: turning men into steel.

The BolsheviksThe Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1917 and later became the Communist Party. The party included Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. believed that turning flesh into metal would create the ideal Soviet citizen, who would have no free will of his own and would only do what was best for others. This would allow them to build communismThe system of organising society so that all property is owned by the community and everyone receives things according to their needs. in the USSR and spread it across the globe.

In some ways, the Bolsheviks had similar plans to our modern-day tech industry. Many "transhumanists" in Silicon ValleyA global centre of technological innovation in Northern California. It is home to many start-up and global technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Google. have the same ideas, with some claiming that we could even become immortal through combining our bodies with technology.¹

But for most of the last century, the idea of technology becoming advanced enough to create transhumans was just that - an idea. Now, it is real.

2022 saw the release of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot launched by OpenAI, built with 570GB of data and around 300 billion words. It is our best chatbot yet. It also saw the release of Meta's most advanced yet $1,500 (£1,242) virtual-reality headset.

But recent surveys show an increasing amount of pessimism about the growth of tech. One claimed that 36% of artificial intelligence researchers believe that AI could bring global catastrophe or even all-out nuclear war.

Some scientists believe that artificial superintelligence, technology which will far exceed human capacity, could result in our extinction.

But other experts counter that with time, the returns from technology will probably get smaller, rather than greater, and that the technology is unlikely to spiral out of our control.

For many, the dice have not yet been cast. In the right hands, technology could be a force for good which allows us to work less and drives standards of living up. In the wrong hands, it could be the force behind our demise.

Yes: AI technology is developing at a rapid pace, and nobody is regulating it. It is currently in the hands of a few billionaires who will only think about how they can gain from it, not how it might affect the rest of us.

No: We love to be fatalistic about AI technology, but realistically it will be an overwhelming force for good. And despite worries about robots stealing our jobs, AI is actually predicted to produce more and better jobs than we have now.

Or... As with every kind of dangerous technology, we need to monitor AI and ensure that it is regulated by authorities to protect the interests of the majority.

USSR - The United Socialist Soviet Republic, the USA's main rival in the Cold War before it collapsed and broke up into a number of smaller states in 1991.

Utopian - Impossibly perfect. The term comes from an ancient Greek phrase meaning "no-place" invented by Henry VIII's chancellor, Sir Thomas More, in 1516, as the name of an imaginary, ideal island.

Bolsheviks - The Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in 1917 and later became the Communist Party. The party included Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin.

Communism - The system of organising society so that all property is owned by the community and everyone receives things according to their needs.

Silicon Valley - A global centre of technological innovation in Northern California. It is home to many start-up and global technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Google.