Watch out Deeside the robots are coming and they’re going to take your job!
A new report published this week, ‘The Impact of AI on UK Constituencies – Where Will Automation Hit Hardest?‘ produced by Future Advocacy, predicts that up to 37% of jobs in Deeside will be performed by robots and computers by 2030.
Future Advocacy, a think tank who push for smart, forward-thinking policies on AI – artificial intelligence, have produced a heat map based on parliamentary constituencies where AI and automation will potentially have the greatest impact on jobs.
A number of high profile studies have predicted high levels of automation in the UK in the coming years as artificial intelligence and related technologies ‘disrupt’ the economy.
The map which has been segmented by parliamentary constituency in a bid to make MP’s sit up and take note, shows Alyn and Deeside to be one of the hardest hit area’s in the UK when it comes to the amount of jobs at risk through automation.
The report says ‘the Industrial Revolution drove automation of repetitive physical work; the Intelligence Revolution is having the same effect on a widening range of intellectual tasks, meaning that more and more jobs can potentially be performed by robots and computers.’
There’s a lot of disagreement among economists around what effect AI and automation will bring in terms of job losses, there would potentially be fewer low-skilled, low-paid jobs with a shift towards ‘human-centric’ jobs in healthcare, social care and education.
“One thing that almost all economists agree on is that change is coming and that its scale and scope will be unprecedented. Automation will impact different geographies, genders, and socioeconomic classes differently,” the report says.
Deeside’s emergence as a centre for advanced manufacturing skills in aerospace, automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and steel means its right at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Five constituencies with highest proportion of high risk jobs.
“Our findings are startling” the report says,
‘The proportion of jobs at high risk of automation by the early 2030s varies from 22% to 39% for different constituencies.
Jobs most at risk of automation are those in the manufacturing, transport, storage, and administration sectors which poses a potentially big problem for Deeside where almost 35% of total jobs are in the manufacturing sector.
Future Advocacy said no party had produced an adequate policy response to maximising the opportunities of AI and minimising the risks that lie ahead, and hopes its findings demonstrate how automation will affect regions in the UK differently.
The think-tank’s CEO, Olly Buston, said:
“None of the political parties has a remotely adequate strategy to maximise the opportunities and minimise the risks of artificial intelligence.
AI could deliver huge economic benefits to the UK, but automation supercharged by AI could also greatly amplify geographic inequalities. There will be great reward for whichever party gets this right.”
Despite the predictions, a YouGov online poll reveals that only 7% of UK adults are worried that their current job role will be replaced by AI.
Only 28% are worried that AI will replace jobs in their local area.
You can read the full report here.
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