This chapter looks at the current Fourth Industrial Revolution which
integrates the basic sciences and technologies of physics, chemistry and biology,
blurring the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. The
convergence of these technologies has created unprecedented breakthroughs -
computations and algorithms based on the process of evolution are now applied in
creating artificial intelligence and in genetic programming to simulate artificial neural
networks. Advanced technologies will perform at a level higher than human experts in
terms of accuracy and output. They will also revolutionise multiple industry sectors
simultaneously. As such, the disruption of work practices and displacement of human
workers occur at a much faster speed than in the past. Hence, the Fourth Industrial
Revolution will make university-level education even more vital.
Keywords: Advanced robotics and autonomous transport, Artificial intelligence,
Automation, Disruption, Fourth Industrial Revolution, High-level machine
intelligence (HLMI), Lifelong learning, Machine-learning, MOOCs, Skills gaps
and skill mismatch.
