Will machines, robots, AI create or take away jobs from humans?

THE FOURTH INDUS  TRIAL revolution begets an era where automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are mostly going to imitate humans and perform certain repetitive tasks, almost making humans irrelevant in certain fields. This reality becomes a subject of debate with varying views amongst industry experts in the tech ecosystem.

The widely held view is that the advent of machines, AI and automation would create massive job losses across several industries. Before now, many reports had emerged projecting robots and machines to perform certain mundane tasks such as driving and waiting in restaurants and hotels.

According to a McKinsey & Company report, 800 million workers worldwide could be replaced at work by robots by 2030.

A practical example of machines taking away human jobs is robot acting as a waiter or customer attendant. Leo, an AI performing the role of an online customer representative at United Bank for Africa (UBA), and IBM’s Watson performing cognitive functions as human.

According to Art Bilger, venture capitalist and board member at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, all the developed nations on earth will see job loss rates of up to 47 percent within 25 years. He spoke in a recent Oxford study.

However, contrary views by experts foresee a scenario where machines, AI, and automation would trigger and create more jobs in the future.

Gartner in its report predicted that by 2020 AI would generate 2.3 million jobs, exceeding the 1.8 million that it will wipe out in 2025, and that the net new jobs to be created in relation to AI would reach 2 million.

“The fact remains that machines would take up obsolete routine jobs that human currently does and at the same time create more jobs due to the emergence of these machines at workplaces,” said Orimolade Oluwamuyemi Alexander lead communication at Microsoft Nigeria via a chat.

Chidi Okpanku, a telecom analyst and technology consultant at Multiplex Broadband Xprex Limited (mBx) told business a.m. that the era of machines is the manifestation of the stunning revelation by God that each man is given talent according to his capacity.

Machines will create more jobs and create new wealth form, abundance beyond imagination, more resources and a tremendous increase in GDP.

According to Okpanku, there would be a common interface between humans and machines when man will have access to the entire world’s knowledge without the need to browse the web.

“The future is going to be amazing as humans will begin to live, play and interact with machines. Our brain will be online and connected to the internet,” said Okpanku.

He added that in the future man will work less and have time for holiday and creative works like painting, writing, singing, and all works that are talent based while machines will handle the mundane tasks like customer service, driving, etc.

According to Jim Wilson, managing director of information technology and business research at Accenture and author “Human + Machine: Reimaging Work in the Age of AI”, Facebook’s recent massive rollout for employment was hugely triggered by its AI deployment.

“Facebook is a good example of a company where its technical capabilities got out of ahead of its ethical capabilities,” said Wilson.

“The world has changed,” says Joshua Cohen, a philosopher on the faculty of Apple University, the company’s in-house training program. So far, he adds, there are no norms handling matters of fairness, privacy, transparency, and other areas of concern that AI platforms invariably engender.

According to Bhagwan Chowdhry, a professor of finance and economics at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, machines will get replaced by other jobs that humans are better at especially anything that requires judgment is something humans will continue to do.

“We are not good at multiplying 16-digit numbers, but we’re good at judging people and detecting if someone is telling the truth,” he said.

Skill Issue

According to experts, “the biggest challenge is the skill set.” They said humans are likely going to feel the pain of automation and AI if they do not hone and upgrade their skills.

According to an analysts, the challenge is - if Nigerians would be equipped with the required skills for the jobs of the future that would be great. This is a major reason many tech organizations and labs like Covenworksaf, Nzukolabs, Leadspace are providing some of the skills needed to change the narrative in Nigeria.

He said irrespective of the current skill sets, which some Nigerians already possess, it is becoming imperative to pick up new skills in machine learning, data & AI, and programming language.

We are not good at multiplying 16-digit numbers, but we’re good at judging people and detecting if someone is telling the truth