[Craig Axford]
Experts responding to a Pew Research survey were nearly evenly split on the question of whether or not robots and digital agents would displace a significant number of workers between now and 2025, creating huge knock on effects for the economy as a whole in the process. According to the Pew Report’s key findings, “Half of these experts (48%) envision a future in which robots and digital agents have displaced significant numbers of both blue- and white-collar workers—with many expressing concern that this will lead to vast increases in income inequality, masses of people who are effectively unemployable, and breakdowns in the social order.” Stowe Boyd, lead researcher with Gigaom Research, argued “The central question of 2025 will be: What are people for in a world that does not need their labor, and where only a minority are needed to guide the ‘bot-based economy?”
Aaron Smith & Janna Anderson, “AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs”, Pew Research Internet Project, August 6, 2014
