Advances in AI and robotics will transform human jobs, starting with roles in warehouses and factories, the UK science minister has said, as the government announced plans to reduce red tape for robot and defence tech companies.
Patrick Vallance said technological progress was creating a “whole new area” for robots to work in. “What’s really changing now is the combination of AI and robotics. It is opening up a whole new area, particularly in the sorts of things like humanoid robotics. And that will increase productivity, it will change the human job,” he told the Guardian.
Lord Vallance spoke as a government unit helping to deploy new technologies in Britain announced robots and defence as new sectors receiving its support.
He said factories and warehouses, already at the forefront of robot deployment, will undergo further change as a result of the new generation of humanoid robots.
“Activities that require movement around warehouses and factories, or those sorts of things that can be made robotic, will be made robotic. I think they will be made robotic in many cases and therefore, will change the nature of those jobs. That’s going to be the first wave,” he said.
Meanwhile, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has warned that AI could “usher in a new era of mass unemployment”.
Speaking in his annual Mansion House speech on Thursday, Khan said artificial intelligence could destroy a significant amount of jobs in London unless ministers act to help replace jobs taken over by the technology.
Asked to comment on Khan’s speech, Vallance said robots would take away “repetitive” tasks. “You take away some of the things which are less interesting, repetitive things that can be done in another way,” he said.
Vallance, formerly the government’s chief scientific adviser, added that the example of robotics assisting in surgery showed how the technology can enhance jobs.
“Robotics is not displacing surgeons, it’s radically improving how those surgeons work and allowing things to be done with more precision,” he said.
The government is investing £52m for new hubs to drive robotics adoption in British businesses. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian
The government announced on Friday that the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) is expanding its remit to defence tech and robotics, with the aim of slashing red tape for companies operating in those spaces.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is also releasing £52m for new hubs to drive robotics adoption in British businesses. These hubs will offer companies advice on using robots and live demonstrations. “The RIO will aim to streamline overlapping requirements to bring products to market safely, but more quickly, to improve lives and grow our economy,” it said.
The department added that autonomous drones could benefit from the wider RIO remit. Such technology could require separate approvals for aviation, data protection, and sector-specific safety rules, in an expensive process that could take months.
Vallance was speaking during a visit to Humanoid, a UK-based robotics company that has already deployed its prototypes in a factory operated by German industrial group Siemens.
Adam Kelsall, Humanoid’s head of product management, said the company welcomed “anything that gets us into the real world and testing [robots] sooner”.
