By Muvija M and Martin Coulter

LONDON The president of tech giant Microsoft said there is no probability of a super-intelligent artificial intelligence being created within the next 12 months.

Speaking to reporters in Britain on Wednesday, Brad Smith rejected reports Microsoft-backed OpenAI had created an AI that posed a danger to the world. "I don't think that is the case at all," he said.

He added: "There's absolutely no probability that you're going to see this so-called AGI, where computers are more powerful than people, in the next 12 months.

"It's going to take years, if not many decades, but I still think the time to focus on safety is now."

(Reporting by Martin Coulter; Editing by Sharon Singleton)