Just as ATMs changed banking and computers took over the home and workplace, robots and artificial intelligence are going to transform a bunch of industries over the next decade.
By 2025, a machine may be putting together your autonomous cars in a factory with no human oversight. A robot house keeper could be cleaning up after you at home, and your financial advisor might be a computer investing for you automatically.
And with at least 90 countries operating unmanned aerial vehicles, the wars of the future may increasingly be fought with “drone” aircraft.
These are just some of the interesting — and sometimes scary — predictions to come from a 300-page report released by Merrill Lynch in November, which estimates the global market for robots and AI will grow from $28 billion (£185 billion) to more than $150 billion (£99 billion) just five years from now.
There’s plenty of disruption bound to happen across the world as drones and much-smarter-than-you AI take over. But we’re likely to see the biggest changes across eight industries in China, Japan, the US, and Korea — the countries currently investing the most in these technologies.
Here are the big predictions from Merrill Lynch:
