Elon Musk has sounded the alarm over the risks of machine learning and artificial intelligence for some time now. The billionaire said in July that developments in robotics would "certainly" result in disruption in the job market. Musk warned that transport-related jobs would be the first to go as a result of vehicles going autonomous.

More recently, the Tesla CEO warned that AI posed a larger risk to the world than rising geopolitical tensions over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

While some believe a substantial number of jobs face the prospect of being replaced by automation in the near future, others — such as Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt — think there remains plenty that humans do that computers cannot.