58 / 84
welcoming robots into the workplace
is the threat to human jobs. Will
human employees be completely
replaced by robots? If humans are
replaced, how will this impact society
and the workforce?
Research from McKinsey Global
Institute shows that these concerns
aren’t unreasonable as they predict
that approximately one-fifth of the
global workforce will be impacted by
the adoption of AI and automation.
Developed countries like the US,
United Kingdom and Germany are
expected to see the biggest impact
with estimates suggesting robots will
replace between 400 and 800 million
workers by 2030.
Within the next five years, we’re
likely to see some impact from AI and
automation technology. According to
the World Economic Forum, nearly
50% of companies believe that
automation technology will lead to a
reduction in their workforce by 2022.
While these studies may sound like
robots will replace humans, many
think that welcoming robots into
our workforce will simply change
how we work. For example, the
same study conducted by the World
Economic Forum also showed that
38% of businesses believe AI and
automation technology will allow
employees to redirect their attention
to more productive tasks and 25%
of companies think automation will
result in the creation of new roles.
“Producers will only automate if doing
so is profitable. For profit to occur,
producers need a market to sell to in
the first place. Keeping this in mind
helps to highlight the critical flaw
of the argument: if robots replaced
all workers, thereby creating mass
unemployment, to whom would the
producers sell? Because demand is
infinite whereas supply is scarce, the
displaced workers always have the
opportunity to find fresh employment
to produce something that satisfies
Image 2:
Welcome to Industry 4.0
demand elsewhere.” – Kallum
Pickering, senior economist with
Berenberg.
Everyday Artificial
Intelligence examples
Whether we realize it or not,
automation and AI is already in
our everyday lives. Businesses use
automation for admin tasks like
sending out invoices or creating
personalized
customer
emails.
Healthcare professionals use AI
to detect cancer from radiographs
quicker and more efficiently. Most
of us even have AI devices in our
kitchens and living rooms and use
them to play our favorite songs, bake
a cake or order our shopping.
Devices like Google Maps use machine
learning to calculate the fastest route
home based on previous traffic flow,
Amazon suggests products we might
like based on previous purchases and
Netflix helps us find binge-worthy TV
shows based on our viewing habits.
The options for incorporating AI and
automation into our lives are truly
limitless.
Personal and home
assistants
Assistants like Siri from Apple, Alexa
from Amazon, Cortana from Microsoft
and Home from Google are becoming
increasingly present in American
homes. At last estimate, around 39
million Americans currently own a
smart speaker, a 128% increase
from last year!
These personal assistants use a
‘natural language interface’ which
means that users can talk to the
device as they would a human
assistant and ask it to complete
certain tasks or provide specific
information like the weather or
directions.
Devices are getting better at
understanding human speech and
58 l New-Tech Magazine Europe