This report, published by the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), has been written entirely by humans. Likewise, we expect that advisory reports like this one will continue to be written by humans. The same applies to the larger part of journalism, despite what the introductory quote might suggest. In fact, it later became apparent that humans had indeed written much of the article that opened with these words, which appeared in The Guardian on 8 September 2020. Nevertheless, the stir caused by the article made one thing clear: artificial intelli-gence (AI) is now front-page news.The term artificial intelligence was first coined in the 1950s. Since then, scien-tists have been working to develop systems capable of performing tasks that require cognitive skills and operating with some degree of autonomy. In recent years, how-ever, something has changed. Whereas AI used to be the domain of scientists, enthu-siasts and science-fiction lovers, the technology now speaks to the imagination of a wider audience. In other words, AI appears to have taken off, with irrevocable effects for society. Here is a small selection of news stories from the past few years.