Robots will outnumber humans in 30 years

A leading expert has predicted that there will be more robots than humans by the year 2048.

The earth's robot population will grow to 9.4bn in the next thirty years, outnumbering the human population, according to futurologist Dr Ian Pearson.

The research shows that even a modest growth of 20 per cent per year will see humans outnumbered before 2050.

However, this could be sooner in the event of rapid market uptake in technology, which would see robots overtaking humans as early as 2033.

Dr Ian Pearson also predicts that robots could become 'emotionally intelligent' as soon as 2028.

The research was commissioned by streaming service NOW TV who also created an ultra-realistic humanoid robot to launch Westworld Season Two. The show takes place in a dystopian future and explores the dawn of artificial intelligence, and will be available to stream on NOW TV from Monday 23rd April.

A study of 2,000 Brits shows that we have concerns about science fiction becoming fact. Seven in ten of us (71 per cent) fear the rise of artificially intelligent robots in society and nearly six in ten (59 per cent) believe robots are a threat to the future of humanity.

And more than half of those surveyed (54 per cent) believe scientists won’t be able to be control the rise of artificially intelligent robots.

Man - machine

Leading futurologist Dr Ian Pearson said: “Today the global robot population is probably around 57 million. That will grow quickly in the foreseeable future and by 2048 robots will overtake humans.