Billionaire George Soros warned of the "mortal danger" of China's use of artificial intelligence to repress its citizens under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who he called the most dangerous opponent of democracies.

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has again made a splash at Davos. Credit:AP

“I want to call attention to the mortal danger facing open societies from the instruments of control that machine learning and artificial intelligence can put in the hands of repressive regimes,” the 88-year-old said on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world but it's undoubtedly the wealthiest, strongest and most developed in machine learning and artificial intelligence."

"This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous opponent of open societies," he said.