The rise of smart machines and artificial intelligence (AI) opens up some scary possibilities; for the economy, for democracy and even for our continued existence as a species. However, according to David Autor, a leading labour economist and affiliate professor of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, where he is the Ford Professor of Economics, if we get our act together, the age of AI could be one in which we rebuild the middle class.