Robots are replacing People’s jobs. What can we do about that?

The demands of some employers are so strict that normal human beings cannot meet their criterion no matter how hard they try. A perfect employee is the one who is efficient, obedient, and precise. Simultaneously, he should be free from all instincts like sickness and feeling of being tired. The original motive behind machines was to assist humans but the desire to do more erased the fine line between help and supremacy.

In this modern world, machines are overwhelmingly involved in our daily lives and scientists are working as hard as ever to develop advanced robots that can perform all the tasks of our daily routine. The advancement in the field of Artificial Intelligence has completely revolutionized the field of Robotics. Nowadays, robots are everywhere from driving cars to assisting construction work. Having said that, the number of people who are in support of robots has gone down tremendously. The reason for this is pretty obvious as a lot of people are being deprived of their jobs following this massive onslaught. Following is a list of jobs where robots are overtaking humans at a rapid rate.

·         Surgeons

Technology has vastly improved the medical industry. The diagnosis has become much more accurate and efficient. However, advanced robots are causing a serious threat to surgeons around the world as they can outperform them. The chances of making mistakes go down by many times because robots are not affected by external factors like stress. An experimental proof of that came in 2016 when a Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) stitched a pig’s small intestine much better than its human equivalent.

Call Center Representatives

We are accustomed to an automated voice answering our calls when we contact different helplines but techniques like machine learning are enabling computers to interact with customers on a personal level. According to a research, the majority of clients prefer to talk to a virtual assistant instead of FAQs. Nuance Nina is an AI-based system used by Swedbank to provide assistance to their customers. Their practical experience has proven that 78% of the issues are resolved spontaneously. If natural language processing continues to grow at this rate, humans will be no match for the robots as they can understand multiple languages.

·         Fast Food Workers

This job helps a lot of college students to pay for their studies. The massive amount of people are associated with this industry as Fast Food has engulfed humans throughout the world. Involvement of robots in fast food outlets will cause unemployment at an extremely significant scale. A robot named Flippy was developed by Miso Robotics which is working as a cook at a burger restaurant in Pasadena. Planning to expand it to 50 different locations is in progress and it seems pretty possible considering the good work of this machine.

      Truck Drivers

The involvement of robots in driving vehicles is quite old. A lot of time and money has gone into this. Autonomous vehicles are almost ready and this might affect all the truck drivers out there. The transportation industry is widely spread in all parts of the world and robotic vehicles will make all these people unemployed. The experiment of Uber to send a self-driving truck on a 120-mile journey to drop off 50,000 cans of beer clearly shows the intentions of the cargo companies.

Initially, the idea of involving robots was warmly welcomed by a lot of people. At that time, the consequences were not known but as things progressed, the situation is becoming pretty clear to working class people. That’s the reason that only one-third of the people are welcoming robots now. 77% of people believe that the idea of robots replacing human jobs is realistic. The impact of robots will vary depending on the industry and the country but it will affect people of all parts of the world.

According to an estimate, 40% of the Fortune 500 companies could vanish in a span of 10 years. Similarly, the figures for people losing their jobs are extremely horrifying. The number of people losing jobs in the West will be from 9% to 47%. These numbers may increase to a whopping 69% in case of India and China. We need to find a point of equilibrium where robots stay useful for mankind instead of overpowering us before it’s too late.