Automation strength threatens sense of job security

Robots could even hire workers in the future

Automation came for the secretarial pool as computer keyboards steadily replaced typewriters in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet today’s administrative assistants deal with email, scanners, webcasts and other types of technology.

That’s an observation from Iba Masood, who has a somewhat unpopular opinion among Americans — that advances in automation might lead to different kinds of jobs, not fewer jobs.

“I think people should be pragmatically viewing the problem,” said Ms. Masood, co-founder and CEO of automated talent acquisition company Tara.AI. She spoke during a Thrival Innovation Festival panel on artificial intelligence ethics and policy at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty last week. “My view ... is that the roles themselves will evolve. I do not think that there will be a prevalent eradication of a certain type of work,” she said.

But what some consider reasonable thinking is not necessarily reality, according to a new Pew Research study, “Automation in Everyday Life.”

The 4,135 U.S. citizens randomly selected for the May 2017 survey overwhelmingly indicated a sense of fear about automation. The study found 72 percent of Americans very or somewhat worried about a future where robots and computers are capableof performing human jobs.

“They tended to gravitate toward the potential negative outcomes rather than the potential positive outcomes,” said Aaron Smith, lead author of the study. “They’re not blind to the potential benefits, but the ways these technologies could go awry are the things that tend to beat the top of mind.”

In the poll, respondents were presented with four future scenarios and asked to rate their level of unease.