Last week, I spoke on a panel for the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) on the impact of AI and robotics on the workplace. Could these technologies solve the problem of the UK's stagnant productivity? It was a refreshing debate, largely because it avoided the usual technophobia or technophilia and gave me an opportunity to think through my own ideas about councils' approach to this new technology at work. The usual scaremongering narrative about robots is that they are going to steal our jobs. In some ways I hope they do. We could do with robots replacing humans who have to do some of society's most degrading and dangerous jobs. Rather than worrying about a robot takeover, perhaps we should be demanding it. We should put fears to one side and remember that the economy has always adapted to technological innovation, ultimately creating better standards of living, and allowing more, but different, jobs to emerge.
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