Apple's voice controlled assistant virtual assistant Siri may provide the laughs with the program's answers to cheeky questions. Ask Siri where to hide a body and she'll give you a list of venues like a swamp or reservoir.

While Siri's answers are nothing more than pre-programmed responses by those funny programmers at Apple, it's still the most advanced artificial intelligence on a smartphone to date and it could only be the beginning. Given enough time could Siri's responses grow where a user could actually interact with it? Will this mark the beginning of a real artificial intelligence that can mimic human thought?

The notion of artificial intelligence or a self-aware computer program that would emerge from the interconnections of billions of computers and computer networks has a long history in science fiction. But that idea is now moving from science fiction to science fact. Google and Apple both have voice controlled digital assistants. Watson the Computer won the game show Jeopardy this year. IBM is building a computer that it calls a cognitive computer that would learn through experiences, create hypotheses and remember-and learn from- the outcomes. Unsurprisingly that development caused many to compare it to Terminator's Skynet or even the Matrix.

Ultra smart computers or machines that have greater than human intelligence have been a source of fascination and fear for humans. Science fiction writer Vernor Vinge in a 1993 paper coined a term "The Singularity" that has sparked much debate among technologists. The Singularity according to Vinge is a period of rapid technological progress that would result in a change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth.

The idea has struck a chord with engineers, computer programmers and hackers. Futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil has become one of the main proponents of the concept of Singularity. According to Kurzweil the first half of this century will witness the Singularity and by 2029 computers will overtake humans.

''Every aspect of human life will be irreversibly transformed,'' says Kurzweil, who is going to speak in Melbourne this month.

Kurzweil even advocates uploading our minds into robots or virtual reality so that humanity can achieve immortality. Humans can now copy their minds to infinite bodies while intelligent robots will populate the universe. It's a chilling look into the death of biological life.

Of course the real question is how we will adapt to this change. Will the succeeding artificial intelligence be our saviors or the death-dealing Terminator types? As technology moves ever forward and major tech companies improve their products we may yet see the birth of a real artificial intelligence.