The robot revolution is already underway. It may be starting at retail establishments and restaurants, but its reach is much larger.
Editing restaurant industry coverage in Springfield Business Journal and writing summary articles from various media reports for our Today in Business e-newsletter, I’ve seen a trend. And you probably are hearing about it, too.
With fast-food workers demanding higher pay, corporations are looking at machines to replace them. A kiosk for ordering rather than speaking to a cashier isn’t far off. In fact, it’s already been announced by several.
Panera Bread, for example, is introducing automated ordering service at kiosks within three years. Chili’s and Applebee’s are experimenting with tablets on their tables, allowing diners to order and pay without ever interacting with human wait staff.
Supermarkets already have replaced workers with self-checkout machines, and other jobs, such as baristas, could become extinct as networks of robots are capable of remembering even the most complex coffee order. Home improvement chain Lowe’s currently is testing a robot concept dubbed OSHbots. The 5-foot wheeled machines, equipped with 3-D cameras to scan and identify items, allow customers to research items and check inventory on their screens. The OSHbots can even lead customers to the aisle where an item is located.
It may sound like science fiction, but it’s happening. And if the technology exists, what’s to stop a mass of corporations from instituting robots into their daily operations? Upfront costs may be steep, but they would ultimately pay for themselves since, unlike humans, they don’t require a weekly paycheck.
My estimation: Very little is stopping them. It seems only a matter of time. The question is, what’s the cost to humanity and our economy?
Reports suggest the technology won’t just take over retail and restaurant jobs; it may even be heading into your industry. I’ll use mine as an example. The Associated Press announced this summer it is pursuing automated technology to write corporate earnings stories for its business reporting.
In a blog post announcing the move, the AP said the technology developed by Automated Insights, paired with data from Zacks Investment Research, would allow the company to pump out 4,400 quarterly report articles of up to 300 words, compared to the current 300 stories its employees write up each quarter. No job losses are expected, but theoretically, if a program can write a simple news story, more in-depth reports could be realized in the future. Who would have thought a robot could write an article in the first place? What if robots could eventually be programmed to be creative? Would it really be so different than the various synapses and neurons firing in the brain of a painter or writer?
Walt Disney Co.’s “WALL-E” portrays a bleak view of future society where robots have evolved so much, people are no longer needed. In that fiction film, humans have become useless blobs. If robots can do everything, is that an actual possibility?
A popular YouTube video by educational video creator CGP Grey, dubbed “
Humans Need Not Apply,” compares the robot revolution to the downfall of horses in the machine age.
Once needed for everything from farming to transportation, horses simply could not compete when automated machines took over their jobs. According to the video, if you imagine a pair of horses talking about “mechanical muscles” taking over, one suggests they may render horses unnecessary. The other says machines so far have made their lives easier, as they no longer have to ride into battle, deliver mail or perform farm work. The new city jobs, by comparison, are cushy, and even if cars take over, there would be new jobs they couldn’t imagine.
However, while there are still working horses, they are largely novelties in current society.
“As mechanical muscles pushed horses out of the economy, mechanical minds will do the same to humans – not immediately, not everywhere, but in large enough numbers and soon enough that it’s going to be a huge problem if we’re not prepared. And we’re not prepared,” the video states.
Here’s where I really start to speculate. What if machines evolve to a point where humans are simply no longer needed for jobs? What will we do with ourselves? Are we looking at a hopeless future or one of possibility? The optimistic “Star Trek” point of view is that when humans no longer need to work, they will do so by choice, not for money but to further themselves and their species. I tend to reside in the “Star Trek” camp rather than the “WALL-E” portrayal of the future.
Speculation aside, humans will need to decide what our place will be in a world where robots can and will take jobs away from us. Where do you stand?
Springfield Business Journal Web Editor Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.
