By Tim BiggsJan. 29, 2015, 1:56 p.m.

Machines will eventually achieve a human-like consciousness but do not pose a threat to the survival of mankind, Microsoft head of research Eric Horvitz says.

Nothing to worry about: The RoboThespian interactive humanoid robot, developed by Engineered Arts. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota

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Machines will eventually achieve a human-like consciousness but do not pose a threat to the survival of mankind, Microsoft head of research Eric Horvitz says, in comments that place him at odds with technologist Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

"There have been concerns about the long-term prospect that we lose control of certain kinds of intelligences," Horvitz said in an interviewafter being awarded the prestigious AAAI Feigenbaum Prize for his contribution to artificial intelligence (AI) research, "[but]I fundamentally don't think that's going to happen".

"I think that we will be very proactive in terms of how we field AI systems, and that in the end we'll be able to get incredible benefits from machine intelligence in all realms of life, from science to education to economics to daily life."

In a later blog, Horvitz admitted the procession of AI towards super-intelligence would present challenges in the realms of privacy, law and ethics, but pointed to an essay he had co-authored which concludes that "AI doomsday scenarios belong more in the realm of science fiction than science fact".

Meanwhile technologist Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, has repeatedly expressed concerns about the development of AI, first likening it to the production of nuclear weapons and then claiming mankind was "summoning the demon" by pursuing the technology carelessly.

Famed physicist Stephen Hawking recently said AI "could spell the end of the human race".He added that the technology would eventually become self-aware and "supersede" humanity as it developed faster than biological evolution.

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Artificial intelligence not a threat: Microsoft's Eric Horvitz contradicts Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates