Industry 4.0 to facilitate four-hour working days by 2050

Yell has released a new report revealing its outlook on what businesses will look like by 2050 as a result of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and the internet of things (IoT).
Partnering with James Wallman, a renowned futurist and journalist, Yell found a number of key trends that it expects to come to fruition with the growth of industry 4.0.
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With greater emphasis being placed on AI by innovators, Yell predicts that businesses will soon be collaborating heavily with robots – something that should be embraced.
“Instead of worrying about robots, we should be excited about ‘cobots’ — robots that are colleagues, designed to work collaboratively alongside humans,” Yell said.
“Machines will conduct more of the repetitive, routine tasks — from chopping and fetching to searching through libraries of information and making complex calculation. As a result, ‘cobots’ will make us more productive, and happier at work.
In line with this, Yell also predicts that increasing automation in business operations will ultimately lead to shorter work days. The report cites research that suggests that four-hour work days are more optimal compared to eight-hour days – something that Yell thinks will be facilitated by the rise of AI and automation.
With just two of seven trends having been mentioned, you can get further insight by reading the full report here.