Tesla boss Elon Musk has warned that artificial intelligence - such as self-aware robots - is probably the biggest threat to the human race.
"With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon," the founder of SpaceX said during a speech.
"In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like yeah he's sure he can control the demon. Didn't work out."
Mr Musk was addressing the MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics department's Centennial Symposium when he discussed oversight to "make sure we don't do something very foolish".
Major technology companies including Google and Facebook are exploring the potential of artificial intelligence, which uses computers for tasks which usually require human intelligence.
Mr Musk hinted that some form of global oversight of artificial intelligence is needed to keep technology in check.
"Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish."
Mr Musk has previously tweeted dark warnings that the results of artificial intelligence could be "more dangerous that nukes".
