Bill Harvey: Automatic for the people

Will artificial intelligence one day take the place of optometrists?

Much is currently being made about the next revolution in society. We had the agricultural or green revolution. Then the industrial, then the electronic and most recently the digital revolutions. Each have promised benefits in reducing labour costs and demands, and offered hopes for a better wealth distribution and greater access to leisure and family time.

Most would agree that, though major advances have been achieved, not least in the field of access to health care, wealth creation has tended to favour the owners of the various technologies core to each of these revolutions. Indeed, as most readers will have found, the recent advances in digital technology have actually resulted in the insidious extension of working hours for most as it has removed the need for a single time and place of focus for workers. The next major development, already well in place, is the rise of artificial intelligence – some are calling this the robot revolution.