The Number of Robots and AI Agents Will Soon Explode, Outpacing Human Workers |
The Number of Robots and AI Agents Will Soon Explode, Outpacing Human Workers
The prediction about robots and AI agents comes from the head of innovation at Citi Global Insights.
BY CHLOE AIELLO, REPORTER @CHLOBO_ILO
Illustration: Getty Images
Robots could soon outnumber humans in the workforce.
The prediction comes from the head of innovation at Citi Global Insights, Rob Garlick, who joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday. His warning comes in light of a December report from Citi suggesting there could be as many as 1.3 billion AI workers in the workforce by 2035, and as many as 4 billion by 2050. These numbers only consider physical AI robots that perform tasks like cleaning, driving, and delivery in sectors including care, construction, hospitality, industrial and retail.
The shift will come as robots grow increasingly capable of accomplishing physical tasks and the period in which companies could see return on investment from this technology grow shorter and shorter.
“We’re going to go over the next couple of decades to more moving robots than working population,” he said. “We will have gone from less than 1 percent of the working population to more than the working population with non-human workers, and they do this cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.”
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“And then you add on agents, digital agents, and it is going to explode,” he added.
During a January talk at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tesla CEO Elon Musk echoed the sentiment, stating that one day “there will be more robots than people.” Tesla recently announced it would retire manufacturing of its Model S and Model X electric vehicles to pave the way for commercial production of the next generation of its humanoid robot, Optimus.
Garlick is the author of a forthcoming book, called, “AI – Anarchy or Abundance? Why the Future of Work Needs Pro-Human Leaders.” His message on CNBC echoed that of his book, which calls for solutions to AI’s impact on work, amid a revolution which he says is very much ongoing now.