Two of the most polarising words in the English language at the moment (aside from "Donald Trump") must be "artificial intelligence". Last week, Big Tech ramped up a campaign intended to convince people that robots will not take their jobs.

Executives from Intel and Tesla testified at a United States House subcommittee meeting on AI's challenges, dismissing many public concerns. Others, including Google chief economist Hal Varian, gave interviews pushing the idea that artificial intelligence is the labour solution to shrinking birth rates in rich countries.