Game changer

AS many as two in five Australian jobs, from pathologists to solicitors and factory workers to farmers, are at risk over the next decade from a trend experts have dubbed “the fourth industrial revolution”.

Robots and artificial intelligence are expected to take over up to five million roles in Australia over the next 13 years, including traditional jobs once considered safe from technological change.

The increasingly intelligent technology is expected to affect everyday life from the way we seek medical treatment to way we travel and could render everything from driver’s licences to real estate valuations obsolete.

But experts are divided over whether machines and software will steal these jobs or merely transform them, whether robots will widen the gulf between the rich and the working poor, and whether Australians are optimistic or merely complacent about the transformation ahead.

Australian workers and students still have time to adapt to the incoming revolution, however, industry experts say the tech-savvy landscape could deliver opportunities for entrepreneurs and corporations to innovate and export.

The Australian Information Industry Association this month released new research showing 97 per cent of Austra- lians felt positive about their future job prospects despite the automation revolution and more than half were confident in Australia’s ability to adapt to change.

But the Galaxy survey of more than 1000 Australian adults also showed less enthusiasm about whether Australia was keeping pace with innovation now, with 41 per cent claiming the country was “generally falling behind”.