It could be the end for humankind if we are not careful (Picture: Paramount/Skydance Prods/Kobal/REX)

A rogue artificial intelligence (AI) could kill everybody if the technology is not properly regulated like nuclear weapons, MPs have been warned.

Researchers told the science and technology committee that AI could pose an ‘existential threat’ to humanity.

The MPs were told how the AI industry had evolved into an ‘arms race’ and that countries are competing with one another to develop it for military and civilian use.

They said just as humans wiped out the dodo, the machines might eradicate us.

Michael Cohen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, said: ‘With superhuman AI there is a particular risk that is of a different sort of class, which is . . . it could kill everyone.

‘If you imagine training a dog with treats: it will learn to pick actions that lead to it getting treats, but if the dog finds the treat cupboard, it can get the treats itself without doing what we wanted it to do.’

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Professor Michael Osborne, an expert in machine learning, added: ‘I think the bleak scenario is realistic because AI is attempting to bottle what makes humans special — that [quality] has led to humans completely changing the face of the Earth.

‘Artificial systems could become as good at outfoxing us geopolitically as they are in the simple environments of games.

‘There are some reasons for hope in that we have been pretty good at regulating the use of nuclear weapons. AI is as comparable a danger as nuclear weapons.’

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AI could pose an ‘existential threat’ to humanity, MPs have been warned.