Top technology bosses privately believe that advances in artificial intelligence may ultimately harm humanity, but are prevented from saying so publicly because of the potential impact on corporate profits, according to an MIT professor who is considered one of the world's foremost experts.

Max Tegmark, who has written more than 200 academic papers and a best-selling book on AI, says: “Is anyone ever going to talk about the risks artificial intelligence might pose? Of course not because their corporate lawyers are going to stop them.”

The academic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston is viewed as a leading thinker in the world of AI and robotics. His opinions have been quoted by some of the most influential people in technology, including Herman Hauser, founder of Britain’s largest tech company ARM, and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.

Tegmark claims that many people in the industry, from lowly engineers to chief executives, are seriously concerned about how advances in AI could harm humanity. He fears robots will not only take over our jobs but eventually turn against us and claims little work is being done to address the risk.

His book, Life 3.0 details his research suggesting that society has entered what might be the final stage of an evolutionary process brought about by advances in computer science.

He describes the story of humanity in three stages: so-called 'Life 1.0' when humans were defined by their biology. The second stage, 'Life 2.0', was when humans took control of their software: culture, language, beliefs. The final frontier, Life 3.0, allows humans to redesign their hardware and this stage is imminent, the book suggests. But it warns that it could be the era in which we make humanity obsolete.