According to experts, approximately 39% of the time spent on housework and family caregiving could be automated within a decade. 65 experts in artificial intelligence (AI) were asked by researchers from the UK and Japan to predict how much common household tasks would be automated in ten years. Experts predicted that grocery shopping would most likely be automated, while taking care of the elderly or young would be least affected by AI.
The researchers from Ochanomizu University in Japan and Oxford University wanted to find out how robots might affect unpaid domestic work. The researchers observed that robots for domestic household tasks, such as robot vacuum cleaners, and have become the most widely produced and sold robots in the world.
The team sought predictions regarding home robots from 29 UK AI experts and 36 Japanese AI experts. In contrast to Japan, researchers found that male experts in the UK were more optimistic about domestic automation than their female counterparts.
However, experts believed that automation could perform a variety of tasks. According to postdoctoral researcher Dr. Lulu Shi of the Oxford Internet Institute, only 28% of care work, including activities such as teaching your child, accompanying your child, and taking care of an older family member, is predicted to be automated. On the other hand, experts predicted that technology would reduce the amount of time spent grocery shopping by 60%.
However, there is a history of skepticism regarding claims that robots will eliminate domestic chores in the next ten years. A household robot that could cook dinner, walk the dog, look after the baby, shop, and make cocktails was featured on the 1966 television show Tomorrow’s World.
