More than half (55%) of Brits think that Artificial Intelligence will have the biggest impact on our lives in the next 20 years compared to other technological advances, rising to nearly three quarters (71%) among 18-24 year olds, according to a new poll by Ebuyer.
The survey, conducted by the UK’s largest independent tech retailer, looked into the technological advances that the public think will have the biggest impact on our lives over the next 20 years, and which household tech is likely to disappear from our homes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was also voted the technological innovation that people think will most change the way we work, with over two thirds (68%) of people thinking that it will have the biggest impact on our jobs over the next 20 years.
Its influence on the science industry can already be seen, with artificial intelligence being used in five new technology centres in the UK to improve recovery and diagnose diseases at an earlier stage.
The technological innovations that Brits think will impact our jobs the most in the next 20 years are:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) (68%)
- Virtual Reality (VR) (19%)
- Augmented Reality (AR) (15%)
- Wearable tech (14%)
- Voice Assistants e.g. Alexa, Siri (14%)
In terms of day-to-day life, other technology, such as Virtual Reality, is not predicted to have such a big impact, with only a quarter (25%) of Brits thinking that it will have the biggest influence on our lives over the next 20 years.
When asked which devices will become redundant in the future due to increasingly advanced smart technology and AI, more than half (55%) of respondents answered house phones, while 45% said DVD players, probably due to the rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Similarly, three in five (60%) people think that tech such as VR, Augmented Reality (AR) and voice assistants won’t exist in the future because something new and better will have replaced it.
Lee Weymouth, commercial director at Ebuyer said:
“The emergence of AI is a great technological success in our rapidly growing industry. It is slowly coming into play in our daily lives in the UK, as we try to catch up with China’s advanced AI systems.
“It is interesting to see how the public view the future of technology, with young people seeing AI as something that will definitely have a large effect on our lives. I think the results speak for themselves, as AI is now being brought into hospitals and once-human job roles.”
To find out which other tech devices Brits predict will become redundant before 2038, please visit: https://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2018/10/one-in-seven-brits-think-iphones-wont-exist-by-2038-obsolete-tech-survey/