Before the advent of AI, robots were automata that executed a predetermined set of coded instructions, and their limited performance was sufficient in repetitive tasks such as industrial production. With AI technology, robotic systems are becoming more and more autonomous and able to respond to changes in their surroundings by learning from them, thus being able to move out of the limited context of the factory and into the streets, mines, fields; paving, building, sowing, harvesting… All industrial activities can be impacted by increasingly intelligent and flexible machines, anthropomorphic or otherwise. We must remember the impact of the various industrial revolutions first on agriculture and then on industry, which implied a progressive reduction in the number of workers and an increase in productivity. China’s “dark factories,” factories devoid of personnel and lighting, offer a disturbing picture about the future of manufacturing.
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