The past decade or so has seen some spectacular advances in artificial intelligence. But—as is so often the case with emerging technologies—is there a dark side to this brave new world? That was the topic for discussion by a panel of computer scientists and ethicists at this year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

There is no denying the impact of the information technology revolution on our economy. From the time that personal computers started infiltrating the workplace there have been impressive gains in productivity. But at the same time there’s been an uncoupling of the traditional link between productivity and employment; unlike in years past, the benefits derived have not been felt by many—or even most—in society. That was the central message from Moshe Vardi’s talk.

A professor of computational engineering at Rice University, Vardi said that technology has been destroying jobs since the industrial revolution—one only needs to look at the role of horses in transportation as an example. But in the past those jobs have been taken by machines designed to do a specific thing, like weaving cotton. Now, Vardi argued, we’re facing the possibility of machines that may be better than humans at nearly everything.