Those of you braving the World Economic Forum’s annual jamboree in Davos this week, should you find time in between ski sessions and early-hours nightcaps to pop into a session or two, will notice a familiar theme emerging.

No, not Brexit. Not Donald Trump’s imminent inauguration either. But artificial intelligence. You won’t be able to move in Davos without hearing about AI: the conference’s agenda includes sessions on “AI and advanced robotics”, “Decision by algorithm”, “Intelligent killing machines”, not to mention dozens of side events on the matter.

Given the subject matter, you might be forgiven for thinking this could be the last time Davos hosts the World Economic Forum before the inevitable robot uprising forces next year’s event to be held in an underground cave.

But to those in technology circles, the growing presence of artificial intelligence at the meeting of world leaders will be no surprise.

Second perhaps only to virtual reality, artificial intelligence has generated more frenzied excitement than any other Silicon Valley trend in the last 12 months. According to CB Insights, there were 255 deals involving private AI companies in the first half of last year, a 44pc increase on 2015. The world’s biggest technology companies are in an arms race for the world’s AI experts, paying upwards of seven figures to poach them from universities.