Half of the jobs done today could be done using robots and automation, it has been claimed.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are increasingly used to automate process-driven tasks in the workplace and technology available now could replace vast swathes of roles, according to advisory group McKinsey.
Jobs ranging from shelf-stacking to accountancy have all been identified as at risk from automation.
Speaking at the Telegraph’s Technology Intelligence Live conference, Tera Allas, research director at McKinsey, said some barriers remain to widespread adoption.
“The first one is that of course potential is very different from actual adoption,” she said.
“So even though by 2060 everything we do could be done by machines, it’s very unlikely that it will be because there are still many areas where humans have a comparative advantage.”
Ms Allas said the economics around automation will also determine whether or not a business chooses to push ahead with it.
“Especially in areas where labour is really cheap, it’s probably still more economical for businesses to continue to use humans,” she said.
The McKinsey research chief added that overall automation would create more new jobs than the old ones it destroys. She also said that a “huge amount of people” will need to retrain and re-skill.
Speaking during the same session, Iain Brown, head of data science at SAS, said the move towards automation was still more of an “evolution rather than a revolution”.
“I would say that we see more jobs being created from this than there are being lost,” he said.
“But the requirements are going to be on governments and organisations to skill and re-skill individuals and employees with the new capabilities needed to work in an ever-evolving technological environment.”