London – A government report has delivered a shock warning which states, “The advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics has raised the risk of nearly 9 million British citizens losing their jobs. The UK Department for Work and Pensions has made the report which warns that manufacturing, business administration services and retail would be the worst affected sectors. Last year, the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international institution for public-private cooperation, feared that over 75 million people may be rendered jobless in the next four years owing to the technological advancements in AI and robotics.
The progress in AI would increase the level of automation in the industry, and the cost of robots would become lesser than that required for human resources. The British government report thus puts forth the warning against the use of robots to replace humans in numerous fields. It also expresses concerns over more than 8.8 million posts and jobs to have disappeared in the next decade in the United Kingdom alone.
Alok Sharma, the Minister of State for Employment informed that the government had initiated measures to tackle the issue of the large-scale disappearing job opportunities. Sharma said that they were trying to focus on increasing the job profiles where AI or automation was less likely. Nevertheless, he also claimed that although the companies were increasing the use of AI and automation, the opportunities for a workforce with newer skillsets are growing.
‘In every industrial revolution, the opportunities an economy creates are always more than the ones lost because of it,’ appealed Sharma as he attempted to allay the fears concerning AI. He added that to preserve the rate of employment in the market, investments were being made in training the existing workforce with new skills to adapt to the latest technologies.
In the last few years, the use of AI and robotics is increasing rapidly due to which this issue is in the forefront even in advanced industrial countries like the United States, Japan and South Korea. WEF’s report titled ‘The Future of Jobs 2018’, clearly indicates that by 2022, the AI and robotics would take over an average of 42% of the jobs.
The report also warns of 50% reduction in the permanent jobs available today, stating that the middle class would be the worst hit. Renowned entrepreneur Elon Musk had forewarned that super-advanced robots would take over 15% of the human jobs worldwide.
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