Huge claims are being made for artificial intelligence and the development of robots that can think and feel. Some say it will transform our world for good, others for ill. But it should help us appreciate what it means to be human

On 9 March AlphaGo, a computer program designed by the British Artificial Intelligence company DeepMind, beat Lee Sedol, the world’s top-rated Go player. Go is an ancient chess-type Chinese board game.

Why was this event so widely reported in social media? Because, as the Times leader said: “The computer was not programmed how to play the game; it taught itself … AlphaGo can act, but it can also react. It can use intuition and anticipate the possible long-term effects of its action. In short, it can think.”

Also last month, a socially intelligent human-like robot, Nadine, was unveiled by scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. According to a news release at the time, Nadine has “her own personality, moods and emotions, soft skin and brunette hair, good memory, smiling eyes when greeting you and shaking hands … like a real companion who is always with you”. Because of Japan’s 35 million elderly people in care facilities, the Government is leading the artificial intelligence (AI) research field, pouring millions into elderly-care robotics development.