As the AI world gathers in Seoul, can an accelerating industry balance progress against safety?

Companies such as OpenAI and Meta push ahead, but it is clear that biggest changes are yet to come

This week, artificial intelligence caught up with the future - or at least Hollywood's idea of it from a decade ago.

It feels like AI from the movies," wrote the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, of his latest system, an impressive virtual assistant. To underline his point he posted a single word on X - her" - referring to the 2013 film starring Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with a futuristic version of Siri or Alexa, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.