Robots Might Take Your Job, But Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry
Robot staff may already outnumber humans at some companies, but increased automation doesn’t mean everyone will be out of work.
WHERE ROBOTS HAVE ALREADY REPLACED HUMANS
Visit the futuristic Henn-na Hotel in Japan, which opened its doors this month, and you’ll be greeted by a robotic staff that’s said to run 90% of the hotel’s operations. The other 10% is handled by the hotel’s only 10 human employees.
The robots, called “actroids,” manufactured by robot maker Kokoro, will be responsible for greeting and checking in guests, all the while establishing eye contact and responding to body language–and three of the 10 robots are multilingual.
The Henn-na Hotel, which means “strange hotel” in English, will use the actroids along with other robots, including Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO humanoid robot and SoftBank’s Pepper humanoid robot to make up its staff of three receptionist robots, four service and porter robots, an industrial robot responsible for guests’ coats and bags, and several cleaning robots.
BUT WILL IT AFFECT YOU?
With the workforce going through such radical changes in such a short amount of time, just what effect will an AI takeover have on our workplace? Some believe the robotics workplace will sabotage jobs for humans. This 2013 Oxford study reports that work automation will put 47% of existing jobs in the U.S. at “high risk,” meaning human workers in those jobs will be replaced by robots within 20 years.
Then there are others who believe the age of robots will free humans from “grunt” work and create more high-tech industries.
David Cann, CEO of Double Robotics–the company that created the iPad on wheels used by MIT and seen on Modern Family and The Good Wife–says robots like his aren’t a risk to people’s jobs, but actually increase workers’ ability to get a job wherever they are in the world.
He continues: “And that will have the effect of making it economically more attractive to bring in robotics to absorb some of that work. I think that will accelerate the speed with which this will take place. So over the next five years, we’re going to all of a sudden see robots be very much a part of our lives just in terms of our normal commercial activity.”
ROBOTS MAY TAKE YOUR JOB, BUT THAT’S NOT NECESSARILY A BAD THING
Like Atkinson, Mathiason says there’s no reason to worry. He explains that the 47% found in Oxford’s widely cited study isn’t about jobs being taken over by robots, nor does it have anything to do with unemployment.
He explains: “There will be a displacement and there will be a repositioning of people into jobs that we don’t even have today that we will have in the future. If you look back in history, you’ll see that this disruption has been going on for some time. Not as fast as what we’re currently experiencing, but nonetheless there.”
As an example, Mathiason points to the agriculture industry, which in 1870 employed 70% to 80% of the population, but today, less than 1% make their money from agriculture.
“If you look at the historical unemployment rate, you’ll see that with technology advancing, unemployment has actually stayed the same or declined. And I would see that happening for the next decade where the unemployment aspect taking our jobs will be less of a factor, but we’ll be dealing with displacement. People where their skills are obsolete will have to reposition themselves with training for different careers. After 10 years, there’s a real potential that it will start to affect employment in the workplace in a way that could be very positive.”