With many UK organisations turning to digital transformation to remain competitive, there can be no denying that every job in every industry will soon be impacted by developments in AI and machine learning. Contributor Mark Bridger, VP – OpenText UK
The government has set aside £75 million to support organisations working on AI solutions and robot technology – and we’ll swiftly see the impact of this boost across UK businesses.
“AI technology will completely transform the workplace as menial tasks, and some non-routine jobs, are digitalised through robotics and process automation. However, this disruption is not something we should fear. Collaborative robots – or ‘co-bots’ – will allow for greater efficiency while also taking some of the day-to-day strain off employees.
“From a productivity perspective, we spend a third of our time in the workplace collecting and processing data. AI and robotics could all but eliminate this work, freeing us up from time-consuming administration and allowing us to focus on other more creative or rewarding aspects of our jobs. We should stop viewing AI as an existential threat to employment. AI technology cannot replace people but it can work alongside humans to boost business productivity and make employees’ lives easier.”
Mark Barrenechea, CEO of OpenText said: “Thanks to parallel processing, big data, cloud technology, and advanced algorithms, AI and machine learning are becoming more powerful. By 2020, the AI market will grow to $47 billion. But how will these investments pay off for the enterprise? Equipped with AI and cognitive systems, big data analytics, and machine learning, the insights-driven Intelligent Enterprise will outpace its competition. Better data will mean better algorithms, and better algorithms will mean better data, and so on. We will become much more productive as we offload collecting and processing data to AI systems.”
Research highlights that robo-colleagues are here to stay Research from the leaders in enterprise information management, revealing the extent to which UK citizens think artificial intelligence (AI) and robot technology will impact aspects of their everyday lives – particularly in the workplace.
In a survey of 2,000 UK based respondents revealed growing optimism around robots in the workplace. Over one third (35 percent) of UK citizens would feel comfortable working alongside a robot while almost a quarter (23 percent) would actively encourage their employer to hire robot colleagues if it would mean a reduction in their day-to-day admin tasks.
The research also revealed fewer concerns about robots taking over jobs completely. While the 2017 survey revealed that a quarter of UK consumers (25 percent) believed their job could be replaced by a robot in the next 10 years, this dropped to one in five (21 percent) in this latest survey. Furthermore, almost two thirds (60 percent) of respondents did not think a robot would ever take over their jobs, suggesting a greater inclination to work alongside – and not be replaced by – robot technology.
