William Shatner aka Captain Kirk shares his thoughts on artificial intelligence

William Shatner, best known for playing Captain Kirk on "Star Trek", shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence in a recent interview.

The legendary has been spending time exploring the new frontier of artificial intelligence.

According to Reuters, he talked with ProtoBot, a device that combines holographic visuals with conversational AI, and grappled with philosophical and ethical questions about the technology.

"I'm asking ProtoBot questions that ordinarily a computer doesn't answer," Shatner told Reuters. "A computer answers two plus two, but does ProtoBot know what love is? Can ProtoBot understand sentience? Can they understand emotion? Can they understand fear?"

The ProtoBot device was developed by hologram technology provider Proto Inc with conversational AI developer CodeBaby.

It will be released on Sept. 8 and available free to owners of Proto M or Proto Epic hologram units.

The smaller Proto M unit costs around $6,500 while the life-size Proto Epic sells for $65,000. Proto intends to release a cheaper model for consumers in the next 18 months.

Shatner is a paid adviser for Proto.