This question must have popped up in everyone’s mind once or twice, especially when witnessing the rise of Sophia and hearing about the rise of Robotics and AI. We learn about different technological innovations every day; one being even more mind blowing than the other. Throughout history, humans have always been looking for ways to enhance efficiency by making daily tasks faster and easier. Where the vast majority of the world’s population used to be employed in agriculture, the industrial revolution and the fast pace of technological developments and innovation, now two percent is employed in agriculture (ourWorldInData.org). Perhaps the rise of Robotics and AI will once again make us change the way we work nowadays. Will we look back and laugh at this century for letting us execute these boring, repetitive tasks, which robots can easily do? What happens with the people doing this tasks?
People today are heavily dependent on the skills and experience they gain at university or from previous work. Those with a lower education will be victimized the most, as mainly administrative tasks are being automated. Nevertheless, robotics and AI will keep on developing, enabling them to execute more complex jobs, putting the higher educated at risk of losing their jobs as well. It must be noted, though, that a large group will actually benefit from automation as it frees them from these boring, repetitive tasks, leaving them with more time to focus on more valuable activities. So, probably in the near future, robotics and AI will not completely take over our jobs. Mostly, it will work alongside humans as it remains dependent on human input. However, it is up to you how fast these technologies will catch up on you. We should prepare for yet another wave of technological growth and keep in mind that instead of competing with them, we should work together with them. New jobs will evolve for us to perform. Perhaps, tedious work, as we know now will be no longer needed anymore…who knows.
Bridging the Skills Gap. Retrieved September 28, 2019 https://growthtribe.io/blog/project/bridging-the-skills-gap/
Davenport, T. (2018) On Ai and Jobs, We Are All Augmentarians Now – Retrieved September 28, 2019 ://www.forbes.com/sites/tomdavenport/2018/06/08/on-ai-and-jobs-we-are-all-augmentarians-now/#118646e1980a
Genda, E. (2017). All the Ethical Questions Surrounding Ai and Robot Employees – Retrieved September 28, 2019 from
https://www.peoplebank.com.au/blog/2017/11/all-the-ethical-questions-surrounding-ai-and-robot-employees
Roser, M. (2013) Employment in Agriculture. Retrieved September 28, 2019 https://ourworldindata.org/employment-in-agriculture
