ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is a modern phrase that often instils fear in the hearts of the general public. But should we fear this new wave of ‘smart robots’ the same way previous generations feared power lines or meeting a stranger on the internet for a date?

The word AI conjures images of inextricable cyborgs outsmarting and overthrowing their human masters and taking over the planet in a dystopian nightmare. But just how logical is this fear? And is Alexa really just waiting for us to let our guards down?

YouTube has recently released a documentary series that aims to normalise the use of AI technology. The series is fronted and produced by Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. The first episode attempts to answer the ultimate question of whether AI could ever achieve human intelligence, and whether it should. They even show a somewhat cute AI modelled on a baby. The baby symbolises a technology in its infancy, with a lot to learn. Baby X even gets a few things wrong; misidentifying a rubber duck, for example. So, we shouldn’t worry about these human facsimiles taking over any time soon.

Downey Jr isn’t the first well-known face to attempt to make the idea of an AI soft and cuddly. Before Iron Man there was Isaac Asimov, the man who became the quintessential sciencefiction writer.

January 2 marked the centenary of Asimov’s birth. I can’t help but wonder what he would think of the 21st century’s baby AIs and an all-knowing robot woman plugged into people’s living rooms across the country. When Asimov was alive the world looked very different; when people visualised the future they saw flying cars, jetpacks and immortality. Definitely more Jetsons than Skynet!

Asimov was born in 1920 and brought up in Brooklyn, NYC. His parents owned a succession of candy stores in which he was expected to work. He was a keen reader from an early age and the store provided him with newspapers and magazines; constant new reading material he wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford. The store’s stock also kindled his love of comics, the lurid pictures stimulating his already vast imagination.

Asimov wrote or edited over 500 books but arguably his most famous is his Robots series. In the first book of the series, I, Robot (1950), Asimov outlined the ‘Three Laws of Robotics’. With these laws and his books Asimov changed the image of robots within the cultural zeitgeist. Robots transformed from being scary menacing mechanical monsters to walking and talking humanoids with their own moral compass to abide by. One only has to look at The Bicentennial Man, written in 1976 and adapted into a film starring the late Robin Williams in 1999, to see the kind of fragile humanity Asimov instilled in his robots, and to think of them as our faithful servants, if not friends.

Perhaps we should start thinking of AI technology being developed to enhance humans, and not to replace them. With this in mind, Scotland has become a pioneer of AI technology. The Scottish government has even developed an AI Strategy. Kate Forbes MSP, described the strategy as a means to“unlock the social/economic potential of AI intelligence”. Using AI to compile data will help to improve public services and save lives.

The idea of “data compiling” might sound like a fancy way of letting us know that Big Brother is watching. However, we must remember that AI is also being developed to give amputees new limbs and to aid in the detection of cancers.

Glasgow Science Centre’s new exhibition Idea #59 (opening in March) will showcase how AI will improve lives and reshape the future. Whether that be speeding up cancer diagnosis or helping conservationists protect endangered species in their natural habitats. And in Glasgow Science Centre’s Bodyworks exhibition you can even have a go at operating a surgical robotic arm. This technology is giving surgeons a more accurate tool to complete surgeries. The robot surgeon will even resist the human surgeon if they start to go wrong. The Centre’s robotic arm gives you an idea of how hard the technology is to master. It’s tricky, trust me!

At the start of a new decade we know the world is going to change vastly over the coming years. Perhaps like Asimov we should focus on the possibilities of a future accompanied by helpful AIs rather than populated by insidious adversaries. Robots: friends not foes.