Rise of the robots has Aussie workers fearful
AROUND a quarter of Australians are worried about losing their jobs to “robots” as more and more companies turn to emerging technologies to enhance productivity.
Research conducted by analyst firm Telsyte looked at the adoption of transformative technologies — including artificial intelligence (AI), automation, voice commands and virtual reality — by Australian organisations.
It found nearly two-thirds of businesses were already dabbling with machine learning or deep learning to improve operations or influence decisionmaking.
But Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said there was a disparity between the eagerness of company executives in embracing changes in technology and that of the wider community.
“There is an undercurrent of fear in the average consumer about the impact of AI on jobs and future prospects for later generations in a highly-automated world,” Mr Fadaghi said.
“There is always some anxiety among the community about what technology might do.”
Nearly 90 per cent of Australian chief information officers see the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming critical to their organisation within five years, with 65 per cent saying there are opportunities to use machine learning in financial modelling and fraud detection.
The IoT is the concept of connecting any device, such as mobile phones, coffee machines and lamps to name a few, with a direct link to the internet, allowing the collection and exchange of data.
Almost a quarter of organisations are already in the test, development or the production phase of IoT.
Mr Fadaghi said while developments in technology were not new, the current fast and evolving rate of change had workers concerned about maintaining their employment.
He said findings drawn from both consumer and enterprise research showed that 55 per cent of Australians were worried about their future and the lack of job opportunities.
“I think people worry it might happen sooner than later because things are changing very quickly,” he said.
“Employees are worried about asking for pay rises in light of the transformation that is happening and I think this is impacting wages growth as well.” But Mr Fadaghi said jobs that become automated were likely to take a different direction rather than become completely redundant.
“Businesses are not looking to remove people, rather move them into higher value activities,” he said.
“It will take possibly a generation before we see the full impact of AI technology in business in Australia and even in that process there is going to be need for many people to change systems, to work in new roles that have not possibly been invented yet.”