It’s not just recent science fiction films like “Ex Machina” and “Terminator Genisys” that are warning about the potential harm of artificial intelligence.

Over a 1,000 tech experts, scientists and researchers have written a letter pointing to the dangers of “autonomous weapons,” which are described as being capable of selecting and engaging targets without any human intervention. The letter, which was officially announced at the opening of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) conference that was held today in Buenos Aires, reads, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is -- practically if not legally -- feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: Autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”

Some of the scientific and technological luminaries that lent their signature to the letter include Stephen Hawking and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Although the letter admits the argument that using autonomous weapons would save lives by replacing human soldiers with machines is a fair one, the key question before the world today is “whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting.”

The signers of the petition agree, “Just as most chemists and biologists have no interest in building chemical or biological weapons, most AI researchers have no interest in building AI weapons. ... Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.”

Back in December, Hawking expressed to the BBC his concerns: "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

"It would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever increasing rate."