At this year’s Tesla’s AI Day event, Elon Musk announced wanting to launch a humanoid robot next year. This so-called ‘Tesla Bot’ will take care of boring, repetitive and dangerous work from humans. The robot will have the size of an average human (1.70 meters tall and weighing 56 kilograms) and could be used in a wide variety of scenarios, from factory work to grocery shopping. This rapid development could be feasible because of the technologies in autonomous Tesla cars that can be used for the Tesla Bot (Sweney & Hern, 2021).
This development can have profound implications for the global economy. Since these bots can help reduce labour shortages. On top of that, humanoid robots can be put to work for as long as desired. Subsequently, these robots have the potential to replace humans when it comes to labour. Which could lead to unemployment for unskilled workers. The answer to this potential problem is universal basic income (Sweney & Hern, 2021).
Universal Basic Income is a concept where ‘the income paid by a political community to every member of the society on an individual basis without any work requirements’. This income can be generated by the labour of humanoid robots like the Tesla Bot and artificial intelligence solutions. This would end the need for humans to work, which would result in drastic changes in human life. Quality of life and life expectancy would for example be improved, since there is no need for humans to work boring, repetitive and dangerous jobs (Van Parijs, 2013).
If Elon Musk will deliver on his promises is something we will see with time. However, I appreciate the initiative taken to use R&D time for something that will not only benefit businesses but also our society. Humanoid robots could be the trigger for utopian concepts like Universal Basic Income if it is executed correctly and if society embraces this radical change. And that’s something to get excited about.
References
Sweney, M., & Hern, A. (2021, August 20). Humanoid ‘Tesla Bot’ likely to launch next year, says Elon Musk. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/20/humanoid-tesla-bot-likely-to-launch-next-year-says-elon-musk
Van Parijs, P. (2013). “The Universal Basic Income: Why Utopian Thinking Matters, and How Sociologists Can Contribute to It.” Politics & Society 41(2): 171-182.
Thanks for this article, it brings up really interesting questions!
One thing that came to my mind while reading is related to how this utopian idea of robots replacing humans in all repetitive and dangerous jobs would improve the lives of humans. It is definitely true that working in dangerous situations is an unnecessary risk that should be reduced as much as possible, and always working on monotous tasks is not good for mental well-being. However, having a job and going to work in general – even if it is a job that does not give someone complete fulfilment – gives a good structure and sense of belonging and purpose for someone’s life, which would be lost if people suddenly got the same amount of money and also 8 hours of extra free time a day.
I would be really curious to see what effect this change would have on society. Surely, more people would be upskilled and working in jobs that cannot be implemented by robots, at least not in the near future. But for the rest, there should be some new forms of activities that make their lives complete and satisfy that universal need of humans to feel useful and have a purpose. I don’t think I know enough to even try to predict how that life would look like, but it is surely something we should start thinking about in paralell with developing humanoid robots, as changing the roots of society and not having an alternative ready could be a risky thing to do.