The Rise of the Robots!

It’s a New Year and a change of format by me. I’ve decided to share a number of topic specific newsletters, in addition to my weekly roundup one. Below is the first of those, touching on a theme that will continue over the next 3 days.

The Main Event

There is a lot to unpack at the moment, but it all starts with robots.

What we’ve seen in the last 24 hours is the culmination of years of research, which has now resulted in a paradigm shift. To start with, I recommend that you watch the full video from Boston Dynamics about their Atlas robot, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd8ivhpjI6g

Now let me explain why this is so significant. Firstly, this robot is truly autonomous. Apart from being able to handle lots of complex tasks in challenging environments, straight “out-of-the-box”, it even knows when its battery is running low and can change it by itself, with no need for a human to be involved. Secondly, and perhaps most significant in my view, is that when one robot learns a new skill or process they all do. That “collectivism” approach is important, and I will come back to that tomorrow when I talk about Tesla, who most consider to currently be the main competition in this field.

The bottom-line though is that these robots will kill tens of millions of jobs globally. They will replace everyone from workers in car factories, to warehouse staff sorting packages and orders. They also have the dexterity and capabilities to handle other manual tasks, and in my view, it will only be a matter of time before they take over lots of other jobs, inclduing everything from serving food and beverages through to cleaning and housekeeping.

I mention those last examples on purpose, in order to also talk about some research just released by Microsoft (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.07935 refers). This looked at the jobs that they consider will be most impacted negatively by Generative AI. They list the usual suspects – translators/interpreters, customer service reps (think chatbots), teachers, writers and authors and numerous others. They also mention models, which sounds strange, until you realise the ability AI now has to create lifelike avatar images and videos of people.

The research then suggests that more manual roles like those of cleaning and housekeeping, orderlies and others are “safer”. However, whilst they may be safe from Generative AI, that doesn’t protect them from being replaced by robots.

In my newsletter tomorrow I will talk about what I describe as “collectivism”, and how that could also lead revolutionary responses to the issue of data centres and their power use, as well as addressing the current limitations of large language models.

What remains clear is the need for our working practices to shift to one where AI and robots effectively support humans, rather than simply replacing them. However, in order to achieve that, people need to increase their understanding of AI and how they can interact with it effectively.

Seismic changes to the job market are no longer decades or even years away, but months. Are you and your organisation prepared? Are you ready to manage the changes that are coming by educating, upskilling and informing your staff now?

To be continued …

Stay informed, stay critical, and wherever possible - stay ahead.

Regards

Tom Carter