In a new report published in journal Plos One, researchers from the UK and Japan conducted a survey of 65 artificial intelligence (AI) experts and asked them to estimate what percentage of domestic chores could be automated within the next decade.
The findings suggest 39% of household tasks could be performed by robots within the next ten years.
Of those questioned, 29 experts were from the UK and 36 were from Japan.
Those behind the research suggested that the future of work has become a prominent topic for research and policy debate, but that more focus should be paid to unpaid work, especially that within and around the home.
According to international charity ActionAid, which advocates for the rights of women and girls, women perform 75% of unpaid work globally and dedicate, on average, four hours and 25 minutes daily to such tasks. This represents more than three times the global men’s average of one hour and 23 minutes, by its estimates.
Ekaterina Hertog, associate professor in AI and society at Oxford University and one report author, said: “The promise of self-driving cars, being on the streets, replacing taxis, has been there, I think, for decades now – and yet, we haven’t been able quite to make robots function well, or these self-driving cars navigate the unpredictable environment of our streets.
“Homes are similar in that sense.”
Other estimates to come from the report include that grocery shopping could be 45% automated in five years time and 59% automated within a decade.
Of the listed responsibilities, the experts believed physical childcare would see the least automation, being just 12% and 21% automated in five and ten years, respectively.
The listed report authors were Vili Lehdonvirta, Lulu P. Shi ,Ekaterina Hertog, Nobuko Nagase andYuji Ohta.
