Robot revolution raises fears of inequality

The writing on the wall is crystal clear. The fast changing scenario in the economic world speaks loudly that advances in robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the next few decades are likely to lead to significant job losses.

The first visible sign is in Japan, where with the average cost of a funeral reaching in excess of £20,000, and human priests costing £1,700, SoftBank’s humanoid robot Pepper has put itself up for hire as a priest for funerals. Pepper is available for just £350 per funeral. Would-be funeral arrangers have the option to deck Pepper out in the robe of a Buddhist monk and can even live-stream the ceremony to those who can’t attend the funeral in person. Pepper’s new code will let it chant sutras in a computerised voice while tapping a drum. This is just an example.