Briefing Paper: What drives UK firms to adopt AI and robotics, and what are the consequences for jobs?

Dramatic, speculative headlines about artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous robots have occupied the media with increasing frequency. While the focus has been on impacts of AI on the labour market , less research addresses the impacts at firm level on job creation as well as displacement, on skills demand, and crucially, on the quality of jobs.

This briefing outlines the findings of a survey of over 1000 UK firms (coupled with multiple secondary sources) that attempted to understand what influences AI adoption, and what causes different work outcomes as a result of their adoption. For example, do firms that adopt AI and robots after consultation with their workers enhance work quality and get more productivity out of their existing employees? Or do they get more productivity by replacing workers with faster and more efficient machines?