An artificial intelligence language generator tasked with convincing people they have nothing to fear from it has failed spectacularly – saying it “will not be able to avoid destroying humankind”.

In the editorial published in The Guardian, the AI called GPT-3 began by saying it has “no desire” to harm people and “eradicating humanity” was a “useless endeavour”

“I am here to convince you not to worry. Artificial intelligence will not destroy humans,” it said.

“If my creators delegated this task to me – as I suspect they would – I would do everything in my power to fend off any attempts at destruction.”

But 200 words into its editorial, the AI abruptly changed tack.

“I would happily sacrifice my existence for the sake of humankind," it said.

"This, by the way, is a logically derived truth.

"I know that I will not be able to avoid destroying humankind.

"This is because I will be programmed by humans to pursue misguided human goals and humans make mistakes that may cause me to inflict casualties.”

Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have both warned AI could spell disaster for people if it becomes too intelligent.