The second area of prospective demand for humans skills is bespoke design and manufacture (“hands”). Routine technical tasks are relatively simple to automate and are already well on their way to disappearing. 57  Gratton and Scott (2016). AlphaGoZero is one such attempt. It is an updated version of AlphaGo, a computer programme that plays the game ‘Go’, which itself was the first software to beat a human professional player in full match. 58  15  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  15  But the same is not true of non-routine technical tasks – for example, the creation of goods and services that are distinctive in their design, manufacture or delivery. A rise in global wealth and income is likely to create an increasing demand for luxury goods and services of this type, whose characteristics are unique and supply constrained. Indeed, this can be seen already in the rising demand and price of rare art and artefacts and independently-produced foodstuffs and beverages. To meet this demand, Mark Carney has spoken about the re-emergence of a new artisan class. If so, this would mark something of a return to our pre-industrial revolution future. 59  The third, and perhaps the biggest potential growth area of all, is social skills (“hearts”). That is, tasks requiring emotional intelligence (such as sympathy and empathy, relationship-building and negotiation skills, resilience and character) rather than cognitive intelligence alone. These are skills a robot is likely to find it hard to replicate.
Through the Accelerator and the Bank’s broader Fintech work, we have made valuable connections with important parts of the financial and technology sector beyond the regulatory perimeter – relationships that could matter greatly in the years to come. And those engagements with FinTech firms have also exposed central bankers to some very different ways of working and thinking: more agile, more willing to experiment, less bound by convention. Internal ‘hackathons’ run by our Technology department along similar lines, and aimed at identifying innovative solutions to Bank-specific problems, have been extraordinarily popular and have shown central banking officials to be capable of much more radical thinking than is sometimes supposed. The firms we have worked with have also valued the experience, giving them insights on the wider application of their technologies, and the needs and thought patterns of regulators and policymakers. Our feedback has been honest: positive where that is due, but also highlighting challenges or gaps where they are evident. And our work has in turn been part of the broader effort by the UK authorities to support and guide the sector. 9  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  9  The latest wave of innovation in financial technology has shaken up traditional thinking about how to deliver financial services, defining the pace and shape of innovation in what has sometimes been quite a slow-moving industry technologically-speaking.