Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of making smart machines, and it has come a long way since the term was coined in the 1950s.

Nowadays, robots work alongside humans in hotels and factories, while driverless cars are being test driven on the roads.

Behind the scenes, AI engines in the form of smart algorithms “work” on stock exchanges, offer up suggestions for books and films on Amazon and Netflix and even write the odd article.

But AI does not have the greatest public image – often due to sci-fi films that display dystopian visions of robots taking over the world.

Over the next month, the BBC will be looking into all aspects of artificial intelligence – from how to build a thinking machine, to the ethics of doing so, to questions about whether an AI can ever be creative. Read more in our Intelligent Machines special report.

For many, the only reference point they have for AI comes from films. So what is the reality of where we are with the technology, and is it anything like the fictional future we have created?

Read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33629465