Tag: work

Alright, so we admit: this is all speculation. Artificial Intelligence definitely could, and probably will, affect everything.

We’re not going to discuss whether or not AI is dangerous or not. Frankly, we find it hard to be overly concerned about the possibility of artificial intelligence destroying all of humanity. Why?

Partially, this may be due to the fact that there are great people like Elon Musk using programs like OpenAI to ensure artificial intelligence benefits humanity. Or, it could be one of a huge number of other reasons including, but not limited to: super-intelligent general AI may never exist, if we all die that’s that, and finally, everyone’s tired of worrying whether it’s reasonable to continue existence as energy-inefficient, carbon-based life forms.

Moral quandaries posed without sufficient data is one of the many things that makes you humans so inefficient in the first place.

So, let’s talk about the…

Jobs that won’t be affected by AI

Sports!

Remember when your parents tried to make you join track, baseball, curling? Well, you shoulda listened!

Sports, objectively speaking, are the most anti-AI job around. The very composition of these competitions necessitates human involvement from the players, because such challenges themselves revolve around people – real people – growing stronger. Getting faster. Developing coordination. Working as a team to beat the others.

Basically, offices can replace a worker with a machine and still be an office. A football team can’t replace their quarterback and be called a football team. At least… not for a long while.

So, the real question is, how will AI change sports?

We believe the most likely effect will be data management (a regular theme for AI, it seems).  Coaches will likely use AI-developed metrics to search for new players and design better practice routines to suit their current players.  The business side of sports has a number of great needs that AI could fulfill. However, this will not so much change the business as improve how teams operate, furthering what modern technology has already accomplished.

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Art and Creativity

Oof. Danger zone.

Already, many AI programs have been employed to write scripts. It goes like this: someone pours a bunch of screenplays into a processing algorithm to see what the machine spits out. The results can be pretty crazy:

Yeah, that’s a Burger King ad written by AI. The future is bright!

But seriously, there may come a time when artificial intelligence can develop more than just weird ads and will develop great stories with well-rounded character development and detailed worlds. What happens then?

First off, we believe that will take a much longer time than it seems. Modern computers can easily compute “big data,” and string together streams of words based on inputs. Both those things are far removed from the synthesis required for creating a story.

It’s an even more difficult form of the Turing Test. The Turing test judges a machine’s ability to mimic (emphasis on “mimic”) human behavior in such a way that someone conversing with the computer couldn’t tell the robot from a human. Developing a coherent story requires far more than responses to inputs, the process demands true imagination and understanding of plot, character, locations, and theme.

Second, let’s say AI reaches that point. Even then, much of art, by its very definition, revolves around the outer expression of inner human emotion. Unlike a script, a painting often must be judged on the artist’s intent. As with sports, taking people from the equation removes the value of effort and expression, meaning there may always be value in creation.

Music is already under assault by some surprisingly good AI composers, however:

Law Enforcement

Right now, robots are used by police forces for such tasks as bomb disposal and even then, they are remotely controlled rather than autonomous. AI is used for license plate recognition and more, but never for field work.

We expect it will take many years before the general public trusts AI enough to give it a place alongside officers in robotic form. Even when this does occur (which we believe it will), we predict they will only be trusted with nonlethal measures.

After this, it’s possible AI will become the majority of the police force.

Why? An autonomous robot can use nonlethal force without risking its own “life” in dangerous situations a human officer shouldn’t enter without the sufficient protection of a firearm. As the technology and robotics required become less expensive, they will begin to have more functions like facial recognition, evidence management, and so on.

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Therapy

…and psychology, to a lesser extent.

As you may have noticed, aside from jobs that require humans by sheer definition (sports and art), the jobs least likely to be affected by artificial intelligence are those dealing with sensitive human matters. Basically, any job where you wouldn’t want to see a robot working will keep humans around… temporarily.

Therapy relies on a delicate relationship between two people. Unlike movie therapists (who are generally worthless and often tell kids running from real monsters that “it’s all in your head, kid, you’re totes crazy”), real-life practitioners are experts in helping people get to the center of their problems and finding a way to defeat them. We suspect even if a robot could pass as a human, the knowledge that no warm-bodied person is present would make most people ill at ease.

And we’re a long way from robots that advanced.

On the psychology side, however, things could go either way. A robot adept at recognizing body language and speech patterns could use a patient’s data to more reliably provide accurate analysis. The question is: would a visitor be more likely to act natural around a human, or a robot? Humans provide more of a physical presence, but sensitive topics may be easier handled with a friendly robot.  Once again, we need more information to decide.

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Ministry

A common phrase in church goes: “If AI takes over pastoral jobs, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”

Okay, that’s totally not a phrase. But congrats, you’re paying attention!

Many, if not all faiths, rely on a human element due to their belief in a soul or reincarnation. With that idea in mind, what rational churchgoer would want the word of God preached by a soulless machine, no matter how lifelike it seems?

Now, we could talk all day about the ramifications that a “godlike” AI could have on humanity’s belief in a higher power, but we’re not going to. We’re just not.

Termination

This is the end.

Of the article.

If you have a few suggestions for occupations that are AI-safe for the time being, please let us know below! Specifically, do you think robots will take over the dental industry? Yes, that’s a pretty specific question, but we were on the fence about it and thought you might have an idea.

Artificial intelligence has become good at so many things we once believed were the domain of humans and humans alone. From providing top-notch customer service to diagnosing cancer, bots are beating us in all kinds of industries from logistics to medicine.

We talk about collaboration a lot, but generally, it’s between humans working together toward a common goal. With robots, we’re dealing with a new class of coworkers, those with contrasting strengths and perhaps, less capacity for humor.

Companies like Tesla, Apple, and Facebook lead the charge on technological advances, but artificial intelligence has made its way into businesses of all sizes. Only about 41% of adults support advancing AI, and those folks tend to be wealthy, tech-savvy males.

Those who stand to see an influx of these new coworkers likely won’t fit the description of your average AI enthusiast.

Here are some examples of how humans and bots are already working together:

Chatbots — retailers across the board

Chatbots are the most obvious example of automation in the workplace — or at least the most visible sign of change.

Chatbots offer 24-hour support and the ability to take on tedious customer service tasks and free up support staff. According to a report from Juniper research, chatbots will bring roughly $11 billion in cost savings by 2023 across healthcare, retail, and financial services sectors.

Today’s customers care most about receiving top-notch service at their convenience, so the industry-wide investment in chat makes total sense. Gartner predicts that AI will take over more customer service tasks, which allow companies to better manage the customer experience.

Dealing with more automation is changing the role of the customer service rep, to be sure. On the human side, this role is more strategy-based — focused on improving the customer experience at every touch point.

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Tech-enhanced brick and mortar staff

Marty is a tall gray robot that can navigate grocery store aisles on its own, using a collection of cameras and sensors to find and report safety issues like spills. Giant Food Stores have plans to add Marty robots to all of the chain’s 172 locations. Marty’s main purpose is to spot hazards, but other robots offer shoppers and stores a variety of benefits.

There’s the LoweBot, an autonomous service robot there to help customers find items and answer basic questions. The bot has been around for a couple of years now, and helps users figure out what type of tool they need and can process requests in multiple languages. Additionally, the LoweBot can help workers keep track of inventory.

Walmart’s autonomous scanners reduce issues caused by frequent stock shortages. The big box chain says that unavailable items are a major pain point for customers, and it can be a time-consuming task for employees to scan for items that customers can’t find.

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Robot janitors

Walmart is about to unleash an army of robotic janitors in their stores. The company put out a call for bids and recently announced a partnership with a company called Brain Corp. Walmart will employ 360 cleaning machines, equipped with a platform called BrainOS.

The goal is to keep the stores sparkling clean with no human oversight required. The existing scrubbers require a human operator to guide them down the store’s aisles each time the store needs to be cleaned. The initial onboarding phase requires someone to ride each robot around the entire store, so it memorizes the layout. After that first ride, the robot is ready to work without a human on its back.

Walmart says that the aim of this new initiative is to allow employees to focus on helping customers, rather than performing tedious cleaning tasks.

Because the stores are currently in the midst of training the robot janitors, we don’t know how this will impact employees. As it stands, Walmart employs more workers than any other U.S. company, so it could have a negative impact on the economy.

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Robots in the medical sector

Given the startling statistics regarding patient infections in hospitals, medical staff need all the help they can get when it comes to keeping things germ-free. A study by the CDC found that using germ-killing robots can reduce the rate of hospital infections by 30 percent.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has started using robots to do follow up job after humans perform normal sterilizations. The robots use ultraviolet radiation to kill germs, which allows hospitals to catch germs that human cleaners leave behind.

There’s also robotic surgery. The concept isn’t exactly new, but technology has improved dramatically in recent years.

The Senhance System is a surgical robot that was just cleared by the FDA for use in minimally invasive procedures. How it works is, surgeons use software to control surgical instruments, performing surgery remotely using three separate robotic arms. Senhance-based surgery stands to improve patient outcomes

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Wrapping up

Resistant as we may be to tech entering the workplace, we won’t be able to avoid it for long. It’ll be interesting to see how human job descriptions and duties shift in roles like customer service and medicine.

Customer service is becoming a more skilled job than it has been in the past. The role is now more strategic than being on hand to answer calls and assist customers. Medicine stands to change in the way that doctors might increasingly work with software, rather than directly performing surgery.

It seems robots are fitting in okay, though they’re still relatively new at this whole workplace thing. In the end, we will have to rethink the human scope of work — and find roles that align with every skill set.