The disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, law enforcement or healthcare could be enormous. It raises concerns among politicians, regulators and society that the technology industry needs to address intelligently and flexibly. Too often, however, the industry sees these intrusions as a threat to be brushed aside. It should not.

US technology groups, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM, have set up a non-profit body to work out how society could harness intelligent machines to its benefit, while keeping the risks in check.

Grandly titled as the Partnership on artificial intelligence to benefit people and society, it promises to conduct research into questions that surround artificial intelligence, such as ethics, and develop ways to make the technology more understandable.