AI IS COMING . LOOK BUSY to train people so they don ’ t have to do the laborious work anymore .”

Rae also observes an eagerness among graduates to develop skills more creatively . Indeed , a study by Epson on European workers generally found that two thirds are willing to retrain for new roles defined by enhanced technology .

The UK ’ s digital skill base has been subject to regular negative headlines , but Rae champions the case for optimism and proactivity . “ I have had many conversations with government and industries and there is a realisation of the need to be proactive about the management of this .

“ If we have a more positive attitude and ask how we can adjust the education system to be more

Stopping short of asking Rae to describe his AI utopia , we fastforward five years to a vision of 2022 .

“ My prediction is that most of the offshore non-IT centres will be gone ,” Rae says . “ As a consequence we will see most call centres disappearing as well – the work done on creation of voice , designed to displace annoying computer voices , is very impressive . Eventually you will ring up your mobile phone company or bank and you will be speaking to an agent , and you won ’ t be able to tell that it isn ’ t human .”

This naturally leads back to the question of can there be too much AI . Despite warning of his maverick bias , Rae did indeed answer .

“ There is danger of AI being overhyped and going too far into it now when things may not be where they need to be . However , I ’ m sitting here thinking that in 10 years ’ time if I have brain surgery , I would rather have a robot who ’ s got access to hundreds of thousands of brain operations from around the world than a human .”

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