"A rather silly report commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry talked about giving robots "human" rights - including the right to vote, to receive income support, the provision of council housing and even robot healthcare.

The idea that your vacuum cleaner might be able to sue you for not giving it a lunch break is the kind of lunatic thinking that gives boffinry a bad name. " "Most people believe a robot has to look like a human, but this is not the case.

All it needs to be is artificial, capable of "intelligent" behaviour, preferably able to move and, most importantly, be capable of being re-programmed to carry out a wide variety of tasks with a degree of autonomy.

The idea that robots may also possess a sense of self-awareness has been a mainstay of science fiction since the days of Capek.

It was Isaac Asimov who explored most fully the possible future relationship between man and intelligent machines.

In his books, the issue of "robot rights" was first aired, as was the thorny question of how humans could be protected should the machines decide to turn on their makers"

While not security related I'm a big AI fan and I'm sure many of you are too :)

Article Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451016&in_page_id=1770