Are we on the brink of a robotic revolution?

Are robotics about to go mainstream?

Humanoid robots are making headlines. This new generation of robotics could theoretically change how we live and work—provided we deal with security issues like surveillance and data privacy. For example, the Wall Street Journal reported that 1X Technologies’ robot Neo, sold as an autonomous housekeeper, can be remotely controlled by a human, raising privacy concerns.

But these worries may not impact how organizations adopt robots, especially when added human control could help with certain workplace scenarios such as supporting doctors in a hospital setting.

Ryan Steelberg, the chairman and CEO of Veritone, which builds enterprise AI solutions, said that, as more companies train AI models on audio and video, robotics and autonomous-vehicle companies are “obsessed” with the “amazing amounts of training data [it takes] for us to understand the physical world with movement.”

Steelberg expects Veritone to sell indexed audio and video to train models used by autonomous vehicle and robotics companies.

“You’re seeing a rebirth in hardware,” Steelberg said. “You’re seeing a rebirth in devices at the edge. Groups have to take advantage of that.”

How human do you want this thing to look? Alamgir Karim, the University of Houston’s Dow Chair and Welch Foundation professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, told IT Brew that sometimes humanoid robots could prove vital for certain tasks.

However, there are still technical hurdles for researchers to overcome. For example, Karim, who is part of a team working on robotic applications for healthcare, manufacturing, and agriculture applications, pointed to the need for a robot to accurately replicate the hand motions of a human specialist, such as a surgeon.

“We are trying to think about, how can we achieve just the basic critical functions?” Karim said. “You’re not thinking about necessarily the exact replica of the human hand, but the functions that the human hand is able to do.”

Not your average workplace robot. Of course, not all robots will end up working in operating rooms or on production lines. AI social network platform company Series recently named Uri, a Unitree G1 robot that stands roughly four feet tall, as chief marketing officer.

Nathaneo Johnson, the CEO of Series and a Yale student, said that, with the merger of robotics and AI, “you could see companies at scale employ robots as actual workers.”

The company’s decision to employ Uri as the CMO was based on a few factors, including how it draws in people at public events.

“We realized just how much attention Uri gets, I think it’s honestly higher than most celebrities would,” Johnson said. “There’s people stopping by and taking pictures, and within minutes [they] realize if we’re able to spend around $20,000 on a one-time hire that’s gonna be cheaper than a salary—but still getting the same benefits of what, I guess, a normal CMO could do.”

The robot, Johnson added, is treated as another C-suite executive and participates in internal meetings. Johnson sees it as the physical representation of AI. The robot also interacts with potential new users as part of the company’s marketing strategy.

What to make of all this. Johnson acknowledged that AI is replacing jobs at scale, and wants IT professionals to keep in mind “what’s a replaceable and irreplaceable skill.”

“The only job left is the job of creative freedom, and what that means is employing yourself to think of what a robot can do,” Johnson added. “A lot of people who do those bot-like tasks or jobs will be replaced, but then there’ll be more jobs to…manage and have the creativity around.”

Steelberg, however, believes that IT professionals and organizations can benefit from the potential robot revolution.

“My only suggestions were: find established players, make sure you don’t have…long-term vendor lock-in, and make sure that you can appropriate a balance between what’s the right design of the overall workflow,” Steelberg said. “[That] coordinates effectively with your privacy and security policies again.”