Almost 40% of domestic tasks could be done by robots 'within decade'

A revolution in artificial intelligence could slash the amount of time people spend on household chores and caring, with robots able to perform about 39% of domestic tasks within a decade, according to experts. Tasks such as shopping for groceries were likely to have the most automation, while caring for the young or old was the least likely to be affected by AI, according to a large survey of 65 artificial intelligence (AI) experts in the UK and Japan, who were asked to predict the impact of robots on household chores. But greater automation could result in a "wholesale onslaught on privacy", warned one of the report's authors. Ekaterina Hertog, associate professor in AI and society at Oxford University, called for a public debate about privacy in an era of smart technology, "where an equivalent of Alexa is able to listen in and sort of record what we're doing and report back". Society needed to be alive to the issues raised by homes full of smart automation, she said, adding: "I don't think that we as a society are prepared to manage that wholesale onslaught on privacy." She argued that, if realised, more automated help could help improve gender equality, because women still bear the burden of the majority of unpaid work.