It’s past time to prepare for a future where the workforce has as many robots as people
There’s a scene in the movie “I, Robot” where a robot-hating police officer, played by Will Smith, is questioning the manufacturer of a robot suspected of murdering a human. The conversation gets testy, and the robot maker looks Smith in the eye and says,
Art imitating life? To a degree, yes. Automation, artificial intelligence and robots are costing people their jobs. But no, none are suspected of committing a homicide as a result.
That’s fantasy. What’s real is that this country isn’t doing enough to prepare for a future where millions of Americans with outdated skills won’t be able to compete for jobs when a less expensive, automated alternative is available to their employers. So there’s no better time than now to ask Washington to come up with a more definitive plan to assist employees who are in jeopardy of becoming obsolete.
That happened this year to workers at a Zenni Optical facility near San Francisco when the company replaced them with vision-equipped robots able to identify eyeglasses of a particular shape and color, check their identification numbers, and correctly place each item in its appropriately labeled bag. That kind of work is drudgery for most people, but not for robots that can see and — once purchased — require no salary or benefits.
While automation may be a net positive eventually, too many people without the skills needed to manufacture, maintain and monitor robots or AI programs may be temporarily unemployed or wind up with a job that pays less than what their families need.
COVID accelerated automation’s advance. More customer call centers decided it was less trouble and cheaper to purchase chatbot programs from Liveperson or Watson Assistant than continue employing humans. Security guard robots were purchased from Knightscope to monitor malls and stadiums. And while Doordash shut down Chowbotics after buying it last year, some
Sally robots are still chopping salads for hospital and university dining halls.
This isn’t the first time the world’s labor force has had to adjust to technological advancements. More than 200 years ago, the Luddites burned down factories in Britain where mechanized looms and knitting frames replaced weavers and other textile workers. Automobiles, telephones and computers similarly put people out of work while creating new employment opportunities.
But the issue isn’t whether AI or robots or anything else in development is good or bad; it’s how we manage their impact on society. After President Joe Biden failed to get his “American Jobs Plan” passed, he included some of his workplace ideas in the American Rescue Plan that Congress passed last year. But nothing in that legislation came close to addressing the joblessness being caused by automation.
America needs to respond as it did in 1957 after the Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite — it must realize the future has already begun. Elementary and high schools must place more emphasis on communication and analytical skills that prepare students for technology’s ascension. Workers whose jobs are disappearing must be retrained for new ones, and a sturdier safety net must be available for those who become jobless.
Like climate change, technology’s impact can be underestimated until its effects hit you smack-dab in the face. It makes no sense to wait until a situation becomes untenable before taking the steps needed to avoid catastrophe. Let’s use our (human) intelligence.