Machines will eventually achieve a human-like consciousness but do not pose a threat to the survival of mankind, Microsoft head of research Eric Horvitz says, in comments that place him at odds with technologist Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

"There have been concerns about the long-term prospect that we lose control of certain kinds of intelligences," Horvitz said in an interview after being awarded the prestigious AAAI Feigenbaum Prize for his contribution to artificial intelligence (AI) research, "[but] I fundamentally don't think that's going to happen".

Nothing to worry about: The RoboThespian interactive humanoid robot, developed by Engineered Arts. Credit:Kiyoshi Ota

"I think that we will be very proactive in terms of how we field AI systems, and that in the end we'll be able to get incredible benefits from machine intelligence in all realms of life, from science to education to economics to daily life."

In a later blog, Horvitz admitted the procession of AI towards super-intelligence would present challenges in the realms of privacy, law and ethics, but pointed to an essay he had co-authored which concludes that "AI doomsday scenarios belong more in the realm of science fiction than science fact".