We hear a lot more discussions these days about how scary robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are. The central theme is that sooner rather than later, robots will take over our jobs. AI will disrupt our love life and even conquer the planet. We humans will become lazy. We will no longer challenge our brains. We won’t have to work to eat. More productive solutions will gradually replace us. By the end of that cycle, we will find ourselves to be useless and substituted.

Depending on the perspective you hold about life, all this could be true. Organizations are forming today to create and define guidelines to limit the power of artificial intelligence. We actively try to prevent some of its risks.

Artificial intelligence helps the operation of robots to a big extent. Both terms are therefore used in this article interchangeably, even if not the same obviously.

A growing yet nascent industry

And the market is booming for both robots and artificial intelligence software. You can purchase a large number of robots online. The technology underlying them is usually not great yet but they can be useful. We can’t find yet a real multi-functional companion that act as a human. Most of these robots we buy today are generally created to do one thing only. One is a vacuum cleaner. Another allows to build cars more efficiently in a factory line. Another one helps a surgeon during a procedure, etc…

We have not arrived yet to the level in which a robot could be a companion. Robots will become more intelligent as software continues to improve. They will multi-task on a daily basis.

Most robots are capable today of doing one specific task only

Overall solutions will be available soon. In the meantime, we will buy different robots for specific functions. They bring a lot of good functionalities and are increasingly cheap. Robots in the short term are not going to replace us. They only help us do repetitive tasks better. They free our time for more interesting experiences.

The Sony Aibo was one of the first robots available to the general public

AI is amazing depending on its context of use

A robot could for example take care of grocery shopping. The robot would place every ingredient where it belongs in your fridge. It would cook for you and serve the table. It would clean the dishes and store them away. The robot could even go a step further and even an extra layer of intelligence. It could choose the best ingredients for you based on your health profile. It could select the right quantities and seven suggest the best time to start dinner.

Few people would argue that robots and AI are not something useful in this specific context.

Fearing artificial intelligence

In the last couple of years, our society has become more afraid of technology. On one hand, this makes total sense. Some aspects of technology are truly scary. Cyber threats increase at an alarming rate. The speed of technological change make some jobs disappear faster that in the past. Weapons have become more lethal and less controllable. Powerful tools in the wrong can trigger new kind of wars. Technology can be a real danger.

On the other hand, technology also brings a lot of good things. We can think of new treatments for rare diseases. Or the access to education for more people. Or even new solutions to fight hunger and malnutrition.

Whatever your stance, this shift to artificial intelligence and robotics is happening. A cooking robot may soon replace some of the jobs in a restaurant. A cleaning robot might replace the room cleaning personnel.

The discussion on AI and robot could be compared to the debate we had 20 years ago on the power and dangers of the Internet. Here are two famous and excellently executed ads showing both point of views.

Famous ad showing why Internet is a good thing

And its counterpart showing why Internet is a bad thing

Too much to gain

The advantages AI & robotics bring to individuals and to businesses over time are too significant to be stopped. Adoption can be slowed down by our regulations but at the end mass adoption will prevail. History always repeats itself. People are always scared about the next big revolution. This one will also clearly change our society.

A large part of your car has been manufactured by robots

In the last 5,000 years, we went through major economic and technological revolutions. At their time, they were certainly perceived as threatening as some perceive AI today. Robotics and artificial intelligence are just a new episode in the world evolution. We just find ourselves in the middle of it (which is pretty interesting...).

Robots are theoretically able to do most of the things we do in a better and more consistent way. We as a society will need to adapt and change what we bring as added value. Our education system will have change to prepare the next generations for this reality. The way we get rewarded in the economy will be different. The “knowledge economy” will peak as the main model of our society. Our jobs and skills will be more focused on how to program these robots. We will look for ways to make artificial intelligence even more useful to us. We will become trainers and coaches instead of being workers. Creativity will play an even more important role. To be competent we will need to find ways to combine various types of artificial intelligence. We will create and innovate by assembling.

Creativity plays an essential role in the development of robots. Here the Puma running robot.

The gap between people might grow even further

The divide between those who know and don’t know will unfortunately be even larger. To survive, we will need to develop a great understanding of the different AI technologies. It could become even harder for people without the appropriate knowledge to compete. The world might become even more divisive.

AI will free up our time towards learning and knowledge

On the other hand, robots will also allow us to gain access to things that we couldn't dream before. It will free up time from repetitive chores to more time for learning. Access to knowledge and teaching will be increasingly easier to get. Robots could even provide that education. AI could also create new opportunities to those who need it the most.

Less time for repetitive chores. More time for knowledge.

At the end, the system will balance itself and a new normal will appear for a time. After couple of decades, the world will then witness another big episode of economic and social changes. And paradoxically enough, robots and artificial intelligence will most certainly play an important role in its discovery.

Let’s get ready. We will live surrounded with robots even if their existence will ultimately help us move to a world where they are not needed anymore. But this is for another lifetime.