Sir Richard Lambert told an audience at Warwick Business School that companies need to take responsibility for the consequences of the rise of the robots. Speaking in the first of the WBS 50th Anniversary Distinguished Lectures held at WBS London at The Shard, Sir Richard outlined the threat to society of the increasing use of automation through machine learning, artificial intelligence and robots. The Bank of England's chief economist Andy Haldane has warned that 15 million jobs in the UK are under threat from mass automation, almost half those employed in the country. The possible destruction of so many jobs has led a number of academics, economists and prominent CEOs, like Tesla's Elon Musk, to predict that governments will have to hand out a universal basic income to citizens. Sir Richard, who was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 2006 to 2011, believes CEOs must make sure their companies shoulder their share of responsibility, either voluntarily or by force of regulation.