Will Robots Take Your Job? How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Future of Work
When most people think of artificial intelligence (AI), they think of smarty-pants robots that can service our every whim. While real robots may be in the cards, the future of AI will also revolutionize the way we work (in real life and in the metaverse). In fact, AI is already in your workplace: You use AI when you use Google Maps to find your way to an off-site meeting (perhaps in a self-driving car?), or when you use spell-check for a report.
The current state of AI and the future of AI goes far beyond simplifying mundane tasks, however. Artificial intelligence, or computers that are taught to “think” like humans, can make us healthier, less stressed and happier through advancements in medicine, manufacturing and more. It’s not without its downsides, though. So let’s take a look at what the future of AI holds for the workplace, including some drawbacks and benefits you might see in your lifetime.
Artificial intelligence is all around you. Applying for a job? There’s a good chance AI is screening resumes before they reach a human. Use a voice assistant on your phone to help you with workplace tasks? Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri all use AI to answer your questions and perform functions.
When you use Google or another search engine to look up information, you’re using AI. When your company car prevents you from swerving off the road when you’re drowsy, it uses AI.
Manufacturers use AI to find simpler and more affordable ways to produce better-quality products. AI can also review the history of manufacturing equipment to determine the best times to maintain the machinery.
In the medical industry, AI can find tumors with a better success rate than radiologists. It can also diagnose other illnesses and determine the best way to proceed with medical trials.
And though Web3, the next evolution of the internet, is in its infancy, we can already see how it and AI may combine for a work experience unlike today’s norm. Some companies are already starting to hold meetings in the metaverse, and experts expect that to occur more often in the future.
Whenever humans consider the future of AI, it’s with one big question in mind: Will robots take my job? Most experts agree that humans will still be a necessary part of the workforce, at least for a very long time.
“As more and more of the mundane tasks people are forced to do in the name of productivity become intelligently automated using AI, people will be free to do what we all do best and what makes us happiest: creative problem-solving,” says Robb Wilson, an AI researcher and author ofAge of Invisible Machines. “This will require a major shift in our thinking about what has value in the world and how we obtain our basic needs.”
Wilson explains that while it’s true that some jobs will disappear, new ones that involve working specifically with AI will arise. The biggest shift may be in what we get out of work, a change akin to the reshaping of labor in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Many jobs will become more rewarding as people perform their work alongside AI, solving problems in new and exciting ways.
“So much of culture in the modern age is built around the idea of putting in 40 hours at work, regardless of whether those hours spent tied to a place, a desk or a role are actually necessary,” says Wilson. Companies of the future may finally part with the idea of a 40-hour workweek.
“With technology as a partner, we should be able to live in a world where everyone’s job is some version of contributing creatively to solving the many problems that surround us,” he says. “There are undoubtedly ways in which technology can help us create and manage a surplus of resources [like food, water, shelter and medicine] in ways that might make the 40-hour workweek irrelevant. That can be either a scary idea or a liberating one, depending on how you view the world.”
AI has already changed almost every industry, but the future of AI promises to revolutionize even more businesses.
