The bird-cherry ermine moth is beautifully destructive. Mid-year, in parts of Europe, thousands of caterpillars can be seen weaving a ghostly cobweb over entire trees, dazzling locals as they devour the leaves beneath. The moth is so enthusiastic that its web often shrouds anything in the area, including people’s homes and cars.

And so, anyone with half an eye on CES will have seen software gradually spinning a cobweb over one industry …