Study: Robots May Do 39% of Domestic Chores by 2033

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Facts

  • Within a decade, 39% of household chores could be completed by robots, according to research published in the journal PLOS ONE published on Wednesday.
  • Researchers surveyed 65 Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts across the UK and Japan. The responses showed that grocery shopping is the chore most likely to be automated while automating child care is the least likely.
  • Data from the survey showed that male experts in the UK showed more optimism than their female counterparts about robots completing domestic tasks.
  • Researchers from the University of Oxford and Japan's Ochanomizu University said robots for domestic chores, like vacuum cleaners, "have become the most widely produced and sold robots in the world." They expressed interest in understanding how the robots might impact the domestic work industry, saying "if robots will take our jobs, will they at least also take out the trash for us?"
  • Although recent AI advancements in products like OpenAI's ChatGPT bot have caused interest in robots to soar, predictions that AI would take off have been public for many years. In the mid-2000s, Honda and Toyota were locked in a race to produce robots to perform domestic work and drive vehicles.

Sources: Journals, Guardian, NDTV, MoneyControl, and New York Daily News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Forbes. Humans who yearn for more leisure time will benefit from these robotic technologies, which will be able to do housework, and eventually become so personalized they’ll require little human direction. Interactive toys will also enhance childhood education. Assuming ways could be devised to avoid invasions of privacy and cybersecurity breaches, consumer robots will make people’s lives much better.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Inverse. Introducing robots into everyday life is a slippery slope, and could change humanity forever. Humans will grow dependent on robots, reduce interactions with other humans, and it will be difficult to return to life before robots. We could be headed to a hybrid society, where we live and work with robots in an uneven dependency.