Workplace Transformation: How Robots are Taking Over Human Jobs by Six Key Strategies
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In the rapidly evolving world of technology, robots are making their way into various sectors, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and potentially reshaping the job market.
The demand for office workers may drop by 20% as robots can handle multiple administrative tasks at a lower cost than human employees. This trend is also evident in customer service, where chatbots are taking over tasks such as making phone calls, holding conversations, and scheduling meetings. Robots are already handling 39% of tasks humans used to do, including customer service tasks, in various industries.
The use of robots is not limited to customer service and administration. In warehouses, such as Amazon, robots are extensively employed in inventory management, maximizing space, speeding up product retrieval, and minimizing costs. Robotics are also being applied in the online gambling industry, where they support online casinos, manage loyalty programs, offer customer support, and provide multiple payment methods.
The future of transportation is also expected to see a significant shift with the advent of autonomous or driverless cars. These vehicles, upon release, are expected to skyrocket in sales, potentially leading to a significant decrease in the number of traditional cars on the road. This development could have a substantial impact on jobs related to taxi driving and delivery work.
In the healthcare industry, AI is already being used to diagnose health conditions, analyze patients' data, and treat them. Robots have even been used to conduct eye surgeries with impressive efficiency. By 2025, reports from the University of Pennsylvania suggest that 294,000 hauling jobs could be lost due to driverless technology.
While the jobs most at risk of being lost to robots and automation in the next 20 years are those involving repetitive, routine tasks that can be codified for AI and robotic execution, roles requiring advanced cognitive skills, creativity, domain expertise, or interpersonal interactions are projected to grow or transform rather than disappear.
Studies show that 47% of jobs in America risk being lost to robots in the next 20 years. However, this shift also presents opportunities for new employment as AI makes processes faster and more effective, reducing the need for human interaction in many areas.
As robotics continue to infiltrate multiple aspects of our lives, from warehouses to hospitals and office administration, it is likely that robots will play a more significant role in our daily lives in the coming years. The jobs most at risk are those involving routine manual and clerical tasks, while jobs requiring complex cognitive skills and AI collaboration are expected to expand.
References:
[1] Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2014). The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies. W. W. Norton & Company.
[2] Frey, C. B., & Osborne, M. A. (2013). The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(12), 2540-2550.
[3] Mickiewicz, C., & Kahn, R. (2017). Artificial intelligence, automation, and the economy. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 21-46.
- The use of artificial intelligence and robots in the manufacturing industry could potentially lead to a decrease in jobs requiring routine manual tasks, as reported by Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014).
- Despite the potential job losses in various industries due to automation, such as finance and personal-finance sectors as identified by Frey and Osborne (2013), new opportunities for employment could emerge as AI makes processes faster and more effective.
- The advancement of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, is not only revolutionizing the warehouse and healthcare industries (as highlighted in the text), but also ventures like online gambling, where AI could support customer service, manage loyalty programs, and provide multiple payment methods (as suggested in the references, Mickiewicz & Kahn, 2017).
