Tomorrow's robots - our invisible friends?

Developments in computing will lead to "tiny and unseen systems" to help humans carry out everyday tasks - rather than Terminator-style robots - according to the British Computer Society (BCS).

BCS president Professor Nigel Shadbolt predicts that while artificial intelligence will be a large part of the future of computer science, it will not develop in the way most people may think and - instead of the killer robots - it will result in the emergence of "assistive intelligence".

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Assistive intelligence is a different kind of artificial intelligence which does not have a standalone container or personality but adapts to particular tasks and could be used in many different sorts of devices.

Shadbolt said in a statement: "These results can already be seen everywhere. Rather than conscious brains-in-a-box, as Hollywood would have it, they are in fact small pieces of adaptive and flexible software that help drive our cars, diagnose disease and provide opponents in computer games."

"This is a trend that will continue. There will be micro-intelligences all around us - systems that are very good and adaptive at particular tasks, and we will be immersed in environments stuffed full of helpful devices," he added.