Will AI change our world more profoundly than fire? That was the claim made by the head of Google in a recent television interview. Some believe we should be deeply worried by what he said.

But the fans were in for a shock: Lee won only one of the five games.

That was in 2016. Since then, AI has continued to develop in leaps and bounds.

One of those alarmed by its progress is the journalist Amol Rajan. Over the next 25 years, he believes, AI will change our lives "in ways that are impossible to contemplate, let alone grasp".

"We are living through one of history's hinge moments," Rajan writes "an epoch shift".

Disputing computing

He acknowledges that AI could have huge benefits, particularly in medicine. The worry is that computers might learn so quickly that they become autonomous and start treating humans as their slaves instead of their masters.

Will AI change our world more profoundly than fire?

Some say that Amol Rajan's points are spot on. The pandemic marks a turning point in human history, with three huge currents coming together: Easternisation, climate crisis and the tech revolution. The greatest split in the world today is not left v right but fast v slow, and underlying it all is the growth of AI. By altering the way we think and behave, it is changing us more than fire ever did.

Others point out that AI is mainly being developed by businesses driven by profit. That may be a very powerful force, but it is hardly comparable with fire - the stuff of life itself. Without it to cook on and provide warmth, we would never have become as physically developed as we are; and without it to fashion metal and glass, our technology would still be hopelessly primitive.