TRY EXPLAINING TO CAIN...:

Modern techno-pessimists argue that the ground is shifting because so many more jobs can now be handed over to machines. Another of the three papers suggests that advances in machine intelligence may be revolutionary rather than evolutionary. Gill Pratt, an expert on robotics, highlights two techniques that could cause such a breakthrough. One is "cloud robotics", in which robots learn from one another, leading to a rapid growth in competence. The second is "deep learning", in which robots process vast amounts of data to expand their capabilities, forming associations that can be generalised. Enhancing these two approaches are some more general trends, such as the exponential growth in the availability and capacity of wireless internet access, data storage and computational power.

If this potential were to be realised, robots could march off the production lines where they carry out specific tasks and take over a far more diverse set of roles in large parts of the economy, including manual occupations. One much touted example would be driverless vehicles, which could endanger the livelihoods of legions of taxi drivers and couriers. Moreover, suggests Mr Pratt, the advances could be so rapid that unlike previous waves of automation robots might displace a much bigger share of the workforce in a much shorter time.

Follow @brothersjudd