ARTIFICIAL intelligence and the increase in robotics could mean a third of jobs in West Yorkshire would be obsolete in just two decades’ time.

A report put together by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority warns more than 400,000 jobs in the region are at risk of advances in technology and automation.

The report, which will go before members of the authority’s employment and skills panel today, claims low-skilled and manual jobs could be most at risk from automation.

It suggests the changes don’t necessarily mean a loss of jobs overall, but warns they “could worsen inequality,” with “lower paid workers likely to be particularly affected by automation and other groups, like older workers could suffer.”

Jobs highlighted as being most at risk are administrative, sales and customer service jobs.

But local experts in technology believe the rise of AI could create many more opportunities than it does problems for the residents of West Yorkshire.

Rami Qahwaji, Professor of Visual Computing at the University of Bradford, said: "Robots are good at jobs that are 100 percent predictable. The most at risk jobs would be the ones like packaging, soldering or painting.

"But most people don't do jobs that are 100 per cent predictable. This like raising animals, farming and fishing, they are not totally predictable, and things that are not 100 per cent predictable can't be replaced by automation.

"There are still a number of jobs that can never be automated.

"Some jobs will be lost, but i think the new technology will lead to more jobs being created than what will actually be lost.

"When you think of 20 years ago there weren't companies like Amazon. It changed the way people do shopping. Some people lost their jobs because of this, but many jobs were created at companies like Amazon.

"My biggest concern about the changes is equality. Big companies will make more money, but it might not be the poorer workers who benefit. I do think it could lead to more social inequality, that's my concern.

"I think many changes will also bring a better quality of life to people."

Dr John Baruch runs e4i4 - Education for the 4th Industrial Revolution, which aims to prepare the district's young people for the major changes facing industry. On this report he said: "One very important missing consideration is that with the loss of jobs and reskilling in many areas of industry the people who have jobs are much more likely to retain them than young people finishing their education are likely to find their first job. The challenge for young people is immense.

"Like the first industrial revolution which completely changed the economy from agricultural production to industrial production, this fourth industrial revolution brings in technologies to make many skills obsolete but also generates new opportunities for a completely new economy based on innovation creativity especially with science."

He believes that education will play a major role in preparing future generations for the upcoming changes. He added: "Robots are far superior at doing well in the examination culture of our schools. Employers will use robots and not take on young people for nearly everything that our examination culture produces. We need a culture of innovation and creativity celebrating the talents of every child expressing innovation and creativity across a broad spectrum of hundreds of areas of interest not the dozen or so of our exam boards.

"It is not resilience and flexibility that we want in our young people, which will only enable them to jump from job to job trying to keep ahead of the robots as the industry we know is completely robotised. We need young people who can be innovative and creative especially across the areas covered by the sciences."

The West Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce’s Andy Caton used to work in the financial sector – an area affected massively by automation.

He worries about a lack of skills in some sectors, but ultimately believes new technology will create new jobs.

He said: “From the businesses I have spoken to, I get the sense that there are lots of jobs, but there is a lack of skills and talented people to fill the roles.

“The manufacturing industry, for example, is desperately looking for skilled young people to join them.

“These reports often focus on the destructive effects, but they don’t seem to factor in the wealth creation and improvements in productivity.

“Social media marketing, for example, was an area of work that did not exist 10 years ago, and now you have experts in that field.”