Robots Set to Move beyond Factory as AI Advances

 Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
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Robots Set to Move beyond Factory as AI Advances

 Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)
Attendees watch as a robot walks around during a demonstration at the Unitree Robotics booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9, 2025. (AFP)

Today's robots perform safety checks at industrial plants, conduct quality control in manufacturing, and are even starting to keep hospital patients company.

But soon -- perhaps very soon -- these increasingly humanlike machines will handle more sophisticated tasks, freeing up people while raising complex questions about the roles of artificial intelligence that are gaining attention.

At a panel hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), experts described the next five years as a period where robots transition primarily from industrial sites to service settings, helping to address a worsening health care labor crunch.

Seeing robotics in places like theme parks or universities "will lead to the companion robot probably at the end of the decade," said Marc Theermann, chief strategy officer for robot company Boston Dynamics.

Cris Gardner, a vice president in futurecasting at AARP, predicted robots will provide emotional support as they enter homes and assist with daily tasks.

People "will own a generalized humanoid robot the way they would own a car," she said.

- Upheaval ahead? -

Dystopian prophesies of a robot-centered future have long featured in the public imagination. However, recent breakthroughs in generative AI have given more credibility to predictions of billions of humanoid robots in everyday life.

The centrality of robots in the coming years is "widely underappreciated," said a report from Abundance 360, a conference and education venture led by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis.

Robots could enable an "era of unprecedented abundance," lowering costs while freeing humans "to focus on creative and fulfilling pursuits," it said.

However, the analysis also identified nine sectors facing potential job displacement, including manufacturing, elder care, agriculture, education, and surgery.

"The speed at which multimodal generative AI and humanoid robot development is progressing, paired with the lack of public discourse on this subject, indicates that there will be significant job disruption and societal upheaval," it said.

Disputes over automation have been a recurring factor in labor negotiations, most recently involving US dockworkers, who reached a tentative agreement with a shippers group, averting a strike.

The International Longshoremen's Association permitted ports to add semiautonomous cranes only if more workers are hired, according to the Wall Street Journal.

- Worker shortages -

At CES, companies described robots as performing tasks that humans either shouldn't do because they are dangerous, or don't want to do because they are grueling, tedious, or unpleasant.

Hong Kong company R2C2 showcased industrial robots that can perform functions such as inspections at power plants and technician work on trains, according to San Wong, the company's founder and chief executive.

Working on trains involves "lots of grease everywhere, and it's dirty and hot" so turnover is high, San said.

Vehicle and equipment maker Oshkosh has used automation to phase out high-burnout jobs such as the finishing work on firetrucks, which requires workers to wear a mask and often leads to shoulder and elbow problems, said chief executive John Pfeifer.

Those workers have been shifted to other assembly line work, such as welding. While these jobs are currently safe, they may "one day" be automated, Pfeifer said.

"This has been the evolution of the economy for 250 years," he said. "People move into more productive ways to help the economy grow."

At CES, US agriculture machinery giant John Deere showcased autonomous vehicles developed partly in response to persistent farm labor shortages.

Automation allows farmers to focus on more challenging tasks, such as managing grain movement from a field to a storage area, said Deanna Kovar, president of Deere's worldwide agriculture and turf division.

"We need to continue to make sure we're evolving the skill sets of our employees, of our customers, so that they can take advantage of the technologies and not see them as a threat," she said.

AARP's Gardner noted that the aging US population points to a significant labor gap for caring for the next generation of seniors.

"The demand is going to be enormous, it can't be covered by human beings," said Gardner, who views improved robotics as key to enabling older people to stay independent for longer.



High-Stakes AI Summit in Paris: World Leaders, Tech Titans and Challenging Diplomatic Talks

 Audience members attend the opening ceremony of an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)
Audience members attend the opening ceremony of an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)
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High-Stakes AI Summit in Paris: World Leaders, Tech Titans and Challenging Diplomatic Talks

 Audience members attend the opening ceremony of an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)
Audience members attend the opening ceremony of an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP)

Major world political leaders are meeting for an AI summit in Paris, where challenging diplomatic talks are expected while tech titans fight for dominance in the fast-moving technology industry.

Heads of state, top government officials, CEOs and scientists from around 100 countries are participating in the two-day international summit starting Monday.

High-profile attendees include US Vice President JD Vance, on his first overseas trip since taking office, and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing.

“We’re living a technology and scientific revolution we’ve rarely seen,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday on national television France 2.

France and Europe must seize the “opportunity” because AI "will enable us to live better, learn better, work better, care better and it’s up to us to put this artificial intelligence at the service of human beings,” he said.

Vance's debut abroad

The summit will give some European leaders a chance to meet Vance for the first time. The 40-year-old vice president was just 18 months into his time as Ohio’s junior senator when Donald Trump picked him as his running mate.

On Tuesday, Vance will have a working lunch with Macron, with discussions on Ukraine and the Middle East on the menu.

Vance, like President Donald Trump, has questioned US spending on Ukraine and the approach to isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump promised to end the fighting within six months of taking office.

Vance will attend later this week the Munich Security Conference, where he may meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The vice president was joined by his wife Usha and their three children — Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel — for the trip to Europe.

Leaders in Europe have been watching carefully Trump's recent statements on threats to impose tariffs on the European Union, take control of Greenland and his suggestion that Palestinians clear out Gaza once the fighting in the Israel-Hamas conflict ends — an idea that’s been flatly rejected by Arab countries.

Fostering AI advances

The summit, which gathers major players such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, aims at fostering AI advances in sectors like health, education, environment and culture.

A global public-private partnership named “Current AI” is to be launched to support large-scale initiatives that serve the general interest.

The Paris summit “is the first time we’ll have had such a broad international discussion in one place on the future of AI,” said Linda Griffin, vice president of public policy at Mozilla. “I see it as a norm-setting moment.”

Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group, noted an opportunity to shape AI governance in a new direction by “moving away from this concentration of power amongst a handful of private actors and building this public interest AI instead."

However, it remains unclear if the US will support such initiatives.

French organizers also hope the summit will lead to major investment announcements in Europe.

France is to announce AI private investments worth a total of 109 billion euros ($113 billion) over the coming years, Macron said, presenting it as “the equivalent” of Trump's Stargate AI data centers project.

Indian PM co-hosting the summit

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is co-hosting the summit with Macron, in an effort to involve more global actors in AI development and prevent the sector from becoming a US-China battle.

India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, stressed the need for equitable access to AI to avoid "perpetuating a digital divide that is already existing across the world.”

Macron will also travel Wednesday with Modi to the southern city port of Marseille to inaugurate a new Indian consulate and visit the ITER nuclear research site.

France has become a key defense partner for India, with talks underway on purchasing 26 Rafale fighter jets and three Scorpene submarines. Officials in New Delhi said discussions are in final phase and the deal could be inked in a few weeks.