Today the Members of the European Parliament adopted in the plenary sessions the report of Mady Delvaux (S&D, LU).
In their Resolution the MEPs ask the EU Commission to propose rules on robotics and artificial intelligence, in order to fully exploit their economic potential and to guarantee a standard level of safety and security.
Role of robots
At Ceemet we believe that robots play already today a major role in industry, as part of the existing digitalisation of industry and the ongoing Industry 4.0 evolution. If we want to embrace the future, we must embrace digitalisation.
Robotization, cobotisation and by extension artificial intelligence are an opportunity, however it raises some ethical and practical challenges.
The 4th Industrial Revolution, will cause the loss of certain jobs, but will create new jobs that do not exist today. Previous industrial revolutions prove this. We welcome the positive attitude of the report on this point.
Ceemet is concerned that the lack of sufficient skills and competences as well as sufficient resources for technological equipment and updating or upskilling teacher qualifications are major challenges that need to be addressed. Ceemet President Diego Andreis has raised this issue at previous occasion such as the Roundtable on “Digital skills for the European labour force” on September 20th, organised by Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Mrs. Delvaux seems to share our concern.
Skills in the robot economy
Mrs. Delvaux emphasizes the need and importance of the flexibility of skills and the development of more flexible training and education systems to ensure it matches the “robot economy”.
This in itself requires education and training systems that are flexible enough to work together with industry as well as shared understanding about the benefits of work-based learning.
The debate on new employment models and the sustainability of social systems, Ceemet is calling for, is mentioned by Mrs. Delvaux. However, the idea of a possibly introducing a basic income deserves a separate debate.