It was the middle of the day, and my cell phone rang with a local number I didn't recognize. Figuring it was one of my kids calling from a friend's phone to tell me that they had forgotten their cell phone and needed a ride, I answered — and found myself rapidly descending into the uncanny valley.

"Amy" was, in fact, an outbound interactive voice response program running on a server, likely somewhere in a cloud data center. The company behind the call was the latest incarnation of a sweepstakes and magazine subscription scam operation currently known as North American Direct Services, Inc.

Artificial intelligence, robotics and new disruptive technology are challenging white-collar professions that previously seemed invulnerable. For years now, some researchers have been anticipating that robots would take away jobs from humans.

In the UK 10 million unskilled jobs could be taken over by robots. Researchers estimated that a lot of jobs could be automated and taken over by computers by 2033. Some experts say not to worry because technology has always created new jobs while eliminating old ones, displacing but not replacing workers. Here are five professional jobs already being replaced by computers, robots, and AI.

Elon Musk is worried that AI will destroy humanity, and so he's decided to donate money toward research into how we can keep artificial intelligence safe. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has previously expressed concern that something like what happens in The Terminator could happen in real life.

He's also said that AI is "potentially more dangerous than nukes." The purpose of this donation is to both prevent that from happening and to ensure that AI is used for good and to benefit humanity. The money will be distributed to researchers through grant competitions, with the application process beginning.

Online advertising is a tough business, as only half of the display ads are actually seen – if you even take the definition of half the ad pixels in sight for one second. But guess what? It gets lots worse.

According to a new research marketers have a billion-dollar bot problem. Nearly one-fourth of all video ads are served to bots, while some display ads are bot-infected. Global advertisers could lose a lot of money to bots in 2015, if current fraud rates continue. That means all the advertisers are wasting money on robotic audience share. It's not just the open ad exchanges that have a bot problem; the report also notes that premium publishers can be infected as well.

For six years, a group of robots lived in three houses. No humans resided there with them. The house was solely occupied by robots, fake sweat machines, and a bunch of electronic appliances, which turned on every day. The homes themselves were set up to mimic typical suburban households.

They were equipped with TVs, dishwashers, and washing machines — all of which turned on and off throughout the day. But the appliances themselves varied from house to house. One home was programmed to be extremely energy efficient, whereas another was only slightly more energy-efficient than the control home, which replicated the habits of an average family. 

Autonomous Robocop-style robots, equipped with microphones, speakers, cameras, laser scanners and sensors, have started to guard Silicon Valley. The robots are programmed to notice unusual behavior and alert controllers. It also has odor and heat detectors, and can monitor pollution in carpets as well.

Last but not least: with cameras, the Robocops can remember up to 300 number plates a minute, monitoring traffic. The robotics company says that it will be placing the robots in patrol malls, offices, and local neighborhoods, as well as outdoor spaces like corporate campuses, college campuses and open air malls.