@VraserX: Anthropic estimates robots are cost-competitive for just 0.3% of US work by working time. Getting to 10% would take aro…

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A tweet highlights an Anthropic study estimating that robots are cost-competitive for only 0.3% of US work by working time, with reaching 10% taking ~40 years at historical price-decline rates—questioning whether AI could accelerate robot manufacturing and invalidate the price trajectory assumption.

Anthropic estimates robots are cost-competitive for just 0.3% of US work by working time. Getting to 10% would take around 40 years if prices keep falling at their historical rate. That last assumption is doing a lot of work. If AI makes robot engineering, training and manufacturing much cheaper, yesterday’s price curve could become a terrible guide. The study itself acknowledges that possibility. I want the current cost estimate. I’m much less convinced by the timeline. Would you bet on robots remaining uneconomical for almost everything in 2036?
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Cached at: 10/04/26, 03:07 AM

Anthropic estimates robots are cost-competitive for just 0.3% of US work by working time. Getting to 10% would take around 40 years if prices keep falling at their historical rate.

That last assumption is doing a lot of work.

If AI makes robot engineering, training and manufacturing much cheaper, yesterday’s price curve could become a terrible guide. The study itself acknowledges that possibility.

I want the current cost estimate. I’m much less convinced by the timeline.

Would you bet on robots remaining uneconomical for almost everything in 2036?

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