00:00AI is already changing how people work.
00:04Robotics could take that further,
00:06moving intelligent systems from screens into workplaces, services and homes.
00:12Experts say the gains could be significant,
00:14but also so could be the disruption.
00:17For many people, the first impact may be jobs.
00:20The bigger question is whether safeguards can keep pace.
00:24What we've got to do is put this in perspective.
00:27AI, artificial intelligence, if you will,
00:30is the latest development of supercomputers,
00:33insofar as that we've got these chips which can do incredible things.
00:37Of course, chip technology is a fine art
00:41and, of course, it's always about doing repetitive tasks over and over again.
00:45Of course, this is what computers were originally meant to do
00:48and to make our lives easier.
00:50Of course, we have access to the Internet,
00:52which gives us the ability to do all sorts of things
00:55that we would have had to have gone onto the high street,
00:57for instance, booking a holiday,
00:59buying our shopping, going for clothes.
01:02You name it, we can do it online.
01:03So, of course, thus far, it's been good.
01:06The AI comparison with the Industrial Revolution is about scale.
01:11AI can already perform tasks linked to writing, coding, analysis,
01:16design and administration.
01:19Robotics adds physical work from manufacturing and logistics
01:22to care support and agriculture.
01:25That does not mean every job disappears,
01:27but it could change the tasks people do,
01:30the skills employers need and the types of work available.
01:34The next part of this technological revolution,
01:38if I put it like that,
01:40is that it may start to take over tasks
01:43that hitherto were not possible.
01:46I'm talking about white-coloured tasks.
01:47So, if you go into a modern factory, for instance,
01:50it's very different to what you'd have seen, say, 50 years ago,
01:54which would have been lots of human beings doing lots of tasks,
01:57albeit using machines to aid them.
02:00Now, of course, by and large,
02:01you go into a car production facility,
02:04which I've been to in recent years,
02:06and you see very few human beings.
02:08Everything is done by the computers,
02:10which bring the goods there.
02:12That's all well and good.
02:13But, of course, if we can get AI to start thinking for themselves,
02:17that's what the view is,
02:19that this will eventually reach its zenith
02:22when the machines can think like us
02:24and have the same emotions and creativity.
02:28Maybe then, of course,
02:29you don't need human beings in the process.
02:31And, indeed, the pinnacle, if you like, of this
02:36is that you don't need human beings at all.
02:39Safeguarding is a major question.
02:41Current AI systems can make mistakes,
02:44invent information, reproduce bias,
02:46and be misused for fraud or cyber attacks.
02:50If those systems are connected to robots,
02:52the consequences could move into physical spaces.
02:56Supporters say strong testing
02:58can make the technology safer and more useful.
03:01Critics argue that regulation, accountability,
03:04and human override need to be built in
03:07before advanced systems are widely deployed.
03:10And, of course, there is a sort of view,
03:12and this is very much the sort of the apocalyptic view,
03:14and, of course, we sort of saw this many, many years ago
03:17in the likes of the Terminator film,
03:19where the machines can think about themselves,
03:20and, of course, we become the sort of servants
03:22to the machines,
03:23and, indeed, that the machines take over.
03:25Now, all this is really fanciful at this moment in time,
03:29but, nonetheless, there are many sort of serious thinkers
03:32and academics who are starting to say
03:34that we've got to be very careful with
03:35where we're going in terms of this technology,
03:37but it's much more difficult to see
03:39where the positive benefits will be,
03:41and I think the sort of fear is
03:43that we'll have greater unemployment,
03:45and, of course, the difficulty then
03:46is if you have fewer people in employment,
03:48who's going to pay the taxes
03:50and whatever else that we sort of spend our money on,
03:53but the sort of revenue that sort of comes in,
03:55and, of course, what you're also going to have
03:57in likelihood is a sort of fewer number
03:59of the sort of human beings,
04:02probably a handful of individuals
04:03who control the capital wealth,
04:05so really interesting economic arguments,
04:07but, of course, when the sort of that capital
04:11and, indeed, that intellectual firepower,
04:13because that's what it is,
04:14is concentrated in the hands of a few,
04:16then, of course, it can make those people
04:17sort of very, you know, become demagogues
04:20and tyrants if they sort of so wish,
04:22so it's a really dangerous sort of trend,
04:24and I think the sort of the morality of all this
04:26has got to be sort of carefully thought through
04:28and maybe regulated,
04:30but, of course, as soon as you mention the R word,
04:32then, of course, people start to sort of
04:33become very fearful that you're putting constraints
04:36on the sort of the, you know,
04:37the intellectual quest that this has taken us on,
04:40and, again, I come back to sort of the view
04:42that computers have been, by and large,
04:44really good for us,
04:44and, of course, they give us a lot more choice
04:46and ability to seek out bargains,
04:48but, of course, we've got to be careful
04:49where it takes us to eventually.
04:52The debate is not only about whether robots
04:55could one day outthink humans,
04:57it's about how quickly AI and robotics
04:59may reshape work, services, and everyday life.
05:03The next test is whether governments, employers,
05:06and regulators can manage the benefits
05:08without leaving workers, communities,
05:10and safety protections behind.
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