IT Channel Oxygen asked me to write 500 words about AI and robotics, so here are ten thoughts which are not from ChatGPT (!) and which may well prove to be very wrong in due course!
• HISTORY shows that new technology has always led to GDP growth: the printing press, steam engine, automobile, TV, telephone, Internet, to name but a few. AI is no different: it will foster innovation, spawn new industries and jobs, racked though we are with debt, wars, societal inequality and the small matter of the birth rate collapse demographic time bomb.
• DEMOGRAPHICS Globally people aged over 60 will double by 2050 to over 2.1 billion – or 26% of humanity. In the developed world, labour markets are already tough. As ever smaller working populations struggle to prop up health and social care costs, attracting highly skilled migrants will only go so far. In that sense we actually need AI and humanoid AI robots, not least to overcome the 3 “D”s of work: dirty, dangerous and drudgery.
• PREDICTION Putting my head on the block here! I predict we will have several million humanoid AI robots at work and/or at home within 10-15 years. Yes, that soon.
• HOPE Of course we all hope AI will offer transformative, innovative benefits across health, social care, education, transport, energy grids, manufacturing, even domestic chores – clearly this all sounds great.
• QUESTIONS But there are huge questions…Here’s the big one: with multilingual humanoid AI robots working 23 to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, never ill or tired, no holidays, pay or pension, what about job reskilling (or is that job displacement?…) and what happens to Government tax revenues? With autonomous cars for example, how will cities pay for bin collections without car park income. Ah, wait a minute, robots will be doing the bins. So will Luddite riots return? So many questions…
• TWO PATHS? Will AI bring with it a golden age of prosperity? – after all if by 2040, AI can do almost anything better than a human cognitively and there are millions of humanoid AI robots, surely the costs of goods and services will plummet? Or will AI herald a dystopian future of poverty racked by division and inequality? Take your bets.
• INEVITABLE One thing is certain: we live in a FOMO driven competitive world, so AI is not going away. In fact AI is already developing more rapidly than any other technology. Big tech firms are already racing each other testing prototype humanoid AI robots. China will absolutely be an AI/robotics leader.
• POLITICS We will need courage, wisdom and enlightened political/economic leadership to ensure ethical deployment, equitable access, and robust regulation of AI and robots. Complete faith in our politicians 🙂
• OPTIMISTIC Seriously, if managed well, AI/robotics could amplify human potential, address pressing challenges, and elevate our quality of life. That’s why I’m optimistic. Rabidly optimistic even.
• CARPE DIEM Look, we have to be optimistic, as AI and robotics are here to stay. So we must embrace AI and seize the day in order to benefit from this technology.
Meanwhile now, it’s back to the pre-robot “good old days” of March 2025!
Roger Whittle
After a brief stint at Apple in his early twenties, Roger founded Jigsaw24 aged 27 in 1992, serving as CEO for over 30 years until turning 60 in 2024, since when he has served as a non-executive Director. Roger is a passionate advocate of technology environmental and sustainability initiatives and never tires of banging on about this on his Linkedin account like a scratched record.
