Robots Will Perform a Large Portion of Household Chores by 2033, Experts Say

Within a decade, around 39 percent of the time spent on household chores and caring for loved ones could be automated, experts say, as reported by the BBC.

Scientists from the United Kingdom and Japan asked 65 artificial intelligence (AI) experts to predict the amount of automation in common household chores over the next 10 years.

Experts predict that grocery shopping is likely to experience the most automation, while there is the least likelihood that AI will impact the care of the young or the elderly.

Scientists from the University of Oxford and Japan’s Ochanomizu University wanted to know what impact robots could have on unpaid household chores.

– If robots are going to take our jobs, will they at least take out the trash instead of us – they asked. Household robots, such as vacuum robots, have ‘become the most produced and best-selling robots in the world,’ the scientists noted.

The team asked 29 AI experts from the UK and 36 AI experts from Japan for their forecasts on robots in the home.

Experts from the United Kingdom were more optimistic about home automation compared to their counterparts, while the situation in Japan was the opposite.

However, the tasks that experts believed could be automated varied.

‘It is predicted that only 28 percent of work related to care, including activities such as teaching a child, accompanying a child, or caring for an elderly family member, will be automated,’ said Dr. Lulu Shi, a sociologist at the University of Oxford.

On the other hand, technology is expected to reduce the time we spend on grocery shopping by 60 percent, experts say.

Predictions that robots will free us from household chores ‘in the next ten years’ have a long history, and some skepticism may be justified. In 1966, the television show Tomorrow’s World reported on a household robot that could cook dinner, walk the dog, babysit, shop, mix cocktails, and perform many other tasks.

If its creators were given just one million pounds, the device could be operational by 1976, the news stated…

Ekaterina Hertog, an associate professor of artificial intelligence and society at the University of Oxford and one of the study’s authors, draws parallels with the optimism that has long surrounded self-driving cars.

– The promise that self-driving cars will be on the streets, replacing taxis, has existed, I think, for decades – yet, we have not succeeded in making robots work well or these self-driving cars navigate in the unpredictable environment of our streets. Homes are similar in that respect – they said.

Dr. Kate Devlin, a lecturer in AI and society at King’s College London, who was not involved in the study, says that technology is more likely to assist people rather than replace them.

– It is difficult and expensive to make a robot that can perform multiple or general tasks. Instead, it is easier and more beneficial to create assistive technology that will help us, rather than replace us – she said.

The research suggests that home automation could free up a lot of time spent on unpaid household chores. In the United Kingdom, working-age men do about 50 percent less of this unpaid work than working-age women, while in Japan, men do less than one-fifth.

The disproportionate burden of household chores on women negatively affects women’s earnings, savings, and pensions, claims Prof. Hertog. Increasing automation could therefore result in greater gender equality, scientists say.

However, technology can be expensive. If systems for assisting with household chores are only available to a subset of society, this will lead to increased inequality, Hertog said.