Friday night and the Old Theatre at LSE was packed with students, academics and some of Britain’s computing pioneers to hear Eric Schmidt’s predictions and opinions on the future of computer technology. Schmidt helped grow Google from a Silicon Valley start-up to a global leader in technology, and has spent decades predicting technological innovations.
In conversation with Professor Chrisanthi Avgerou, the executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet discussed the progress in Computer Science education, digital skills and opportunities that flow computing innovation in machine learning. Here are some of his thoughts on how computer technology will continue to changes our lives.
1.Change the way we work
The fear that the job market might be destroyed due to the onset of technology is not new, but with the development of new technology, automation might happen a lot faster than before. Automation is reshaping workplaces and will in years to come bring fundamental changes to almost every industry. Schmidt does not predict that human workers will be replaced by robots, but envisages cooperation between humans and robots in the workplace. Highly repetitive and mundane tasks will be automated, and give humans more time to focus on creative and interesting tasks. He sees robots as a tool to increase performance and productivity, and eliminate the mind crushing, boring tasks that many workers deal with every day.
2. Help us solve global challenges
According to the Google boss it is only our own creativity and innovation that limits the possible use of computer technology. Climate change is one area in which he envisions that technology can help, by using computers to help increase energy efficiency. He also envisions a large role of technology in healthcare by directing the resources to more accurate healthcare solutions and the use of robots in medical research.
