Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI has said the company will forge ahead with AI development despite doubts from some that the technology is evolving at too rapid a pace and could result in unpredictable consequences.

"The potential for this technology to really drive human productivity… to bring economic growth across the globe, is just so powerful, that we'd be foolish to set that aside," Eric Boyd told Sky News.

Boyd continued that Microsoft’s vision of AI wasn’t about “planetary takeover”, but about “changing the relationship between people and computers”.

"It will just really redefine the interfaces that we're used to, the way that you're used to talking to a machine - the keyboard and your mouse and all of that. I think it becomes much more language-based,” Boyd told the news service.

The statements follow the Future of Life Institute’s recent open letter which called for a pause of at least six months in the training of “powerful AI systems” to ensure they develop safely.

The letter was signed by prominent figures such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Emma Bluemke, Centre for the Governance of AI, PhD Engineering, University of Oxford.

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