Will Robots and AI take our jobs? | Felix Tsai – Grade 8

Jun 9, 2020 | 0 comments

Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the discovery of electricity, factories used crude robots and mechanical contraptions to make work easier for humans, and since then, these inventions have evolved with our knowledge and are becoming more and more efficient.

Some commenters wonder whether or not we have taken it too far, that perhaps AI and robots will take our jobs if we continue down this path of industrializing everything.

General AI vs. Narrow AI

AI machine learning is classified into two main parts: narrow AI and general AI. Narrow AI is what we have now: machines that can apply their knowledge to solve problems but can only do specified tasks like voice recognition or specialized ads.

General AI is what most people mean by “real” machine learning. In other words, these are machines more like humans that can apply what they have learned and what they know to deal with new situations. However, it will still be a long time before real general AI is developed due to the small number of funds going into it and how unprofitable it will be to create and use general AI. So let’s focus on narrow AI.



AI can only do simple and repetitive jobs

All of the AI humans have created is incapable of doing complex and unprogrammed jobs, so it cannot improvise new solutions to problems. Currently, most AI can only do single and simple tasks like voice recognition.

This isn’t likely to change in the near future because by our current standards, trying to simulate something even a fraction as powerful as a human brain is going to require a supercomputer, and research to improve and expand these computers is very expensive.

Although some may argue that a large part of the population lacks the skills or knowledge to work in better paying, high-quality jobs, and will inevitably be replaced by robots, others argue that AI taking over your low-paying and boring job might be a good thing, as it allows people working these jobs to work towards getting a better job.

For example, a worker in a factory could become a manager for the robots and AI, and instead of doing tasks like assembling machines by hand or painting a shelf, they would be in charge of things robots are incapable of doing like troubleshooting the machines, marketing, or choosing what to manufacture.

AI and robots will create more jobs for humans

In the past, innovation has always created more jobs. For example, when farmers’ jobs were made easier, and automation like tractors replaced some farmers, more, better quality jobs like production and manufacturing opened up, so more jobs were created.

That has been the trend for a long time so most would think it is safe to assume the same this time. However, there is still cause for concern that AI innovation will not create more jobs because the internet has not been able to create more jobs. There is evidence that current AI models could take over a large portion of people’s jobs.

However, a more realistic assessment of the situation makes it clear that when AI is used in jobs, it would not replace humans at all, but instead replace certain tasks so that the humans working could focus where their attention is needed most.

We do not have to worry about AI causing us to lose our jobs because they won’t really replace jobs. Rather, they will just remove the burden of boring, repetitive tasks.

In conclusion, the introduction of AI will make great changes in our economy, and people won’t lose their jobs because AI can only do simple and repetitive tasks. Instead of replacing jobs, they will only take over boring and repetitive tasks, and leave the high-level – and high-paying – tasks to humans.

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