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Robots: Will they increase gap between rich and poor?

Professor Michael Osborne from Oxford University says 鈥渁n enormous tranche of employment [is] at risk鈥� from robots, and he warns they could increase the gap between rich and poor.

A report from the Boston Consulting Group claims cheaper, better robots will replace human workers at a faster pace in the next 10 years, reducing manufacturing labour costs by 16%.

鈥淢ost alarmingly,鈥� says Professor Osborne, 鈥渢he burden of automation will fall most squarely upon the shoulders of those at the lowest skilled end of spectrum.鈥�

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 concerned about is inequality, in particular.鈥�

But Grant Collier from the British Automation and Robot Association disagrees. 鈥淎ctually, robots create jobs,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey dramatically increase productivity.鈥�

This clip is originally from 5 live Daily on Wednesday 11 February 2015.

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