Introduction
The idea of the economy’s digitalization has long captured the whole world. Nevertheless, many countries’ governments are delayed or slowly introduced it into citizens’ ordinary life. There are many fears associated with digitalization, for example, the sharp reduction in jobs. However, artificial intelligence’s (AI) introduction foreshadows an increase in the economic component, more accessible work for humans, and discoveries in entirely different areas achieved through humans’ and automatic robots’ cooperation.
People’s Anxieties about Digitalization
An excellent worry for an unenlightened person in this topic is the fear of losing their job because now it can be performed by a robot. Many do not understand the direction of scientific and technological progress and have a poor understanding of technologies and their capabilities to improve human life in different spectra. The biggest fear in the economy’s digitalization is the loss of jobs, but this will only be in the short term and only if there is the uncontrolled use of artificial intelligence (Yampolskiy, 2020, p. 3). The answer to this fear will only be the subsequent increase in the number of jobs after the global elimination of jobs, the condition for which will be the skills of handling autonomous robotic systems.
The second fear of society is the need to update the centuries-old model of education. Such changes will lead to the fact that people will have to gain new knowledge in various fields related to economics, programming, logistics, and linguistics. Moreover, some professions will be completely eradicated due to the automation of their work. Simultaneously, there are many vacancies in healthcare, education, transport, logistics, and training. For example, Haenlein and Kaplan (2019) claim that “human employees will be increasingly occupied with feeling tasks since thinking tasks will be taken over by AI systems” (p. 5). It is this sector that will be able to provide significant employment growth in the future. There will be much higher standards and academic requirements for the new professions of those who will operate AI devices.
People are also concerned about the direction of scientific and technological progress. Many think that science that studying AI’s main aim is to obtain a conscious object, which may cause the world to take over. However, this is a big misconception because people should distinguish between “human-substituting innovations,” in which people will only become servants, and “human-improving innovations,” which improve a person’s sensory and motor capabilities (Haenlein and Kaplan, 2019, p. 7). As an example, it can be cited the medicine and the field of prosthetics development.
Ethical Issues Related to Artificial Intelligence
Moreover, one of the most critical points that baffle the spread of digitalization is related to the ethics of introducing artificial intelligence into production instead of people. The ethics question is still open because it is complicated to understand how ethical artificial intelligence in people’s places with their subsequent dismissal is. For example, Dignum (2018) concludes that “AI reasoning should be able to take into account societal values, moral and ethical considerations” (p. 1). There is an increase of ethical questions when discussing society’s division into a rich and poor class and the middle class’s disappearance. The middle class’s disappearance is the automation of many work processes associated with the middle class’s work.
AI and Job Security
All professions, despite their possible future digitalization, can be divided into two categories. The first is those professions that are more susceptible to the rapid introduction of artificial intelligence into their process. The second category is those who, due to specific characteristics, are least susceptible to the inclusion of automated actions in their process. The main characteristics that we highlighted in the lesson that make professions most vulnerable to inclusion in their work are simplicity, repetitiveness, time to complete the task, efficiency, and accuracy. Another critical factor is that some jobs can be replaced with artificial intelligence to reduce labor costs. Resilient characteristics we consider are creativity, communication, and ethical decisions making.
We discussed jobs that we have already had and ranked them according to the degree to which we assumed they could be automated (from one – easy to four – near to impossible). Lawyers, Artists, and Filmmakers are professions that are almost impossible to automate, while Software Testers and Accountants are professions that are being digitalized easily. In the second part of the task, we talked about the work we were providing. We concluded that each of them should be the least susceptible to digitalization. For example, even though Software Architect efficient structures could be made with AI, it would require some manual intervention to ensure creativity and decision-making. Web App Developer, Data Scientist, and Project Manager are also included in our chosen professions.
For the last task, we chose the profession of Customer Care Agent. We answered all the questions and realized that AI could already handle many of these employees’ functions. For example, AI robotic voice can communicate with clients and customers regarding their queries based on relevant keywords and expressions. The stakeholders are the IT engineers who built the AI into the business system, its customers, and the business itself. Of course, this system will have both pros and cons. The advantages for the business are evident – much fewer labor costs, and the advantage is that the buyer can be connected to a robotic agent at any time, and he does not have to wait for his turn. However, the disadvantages can also be significant; for example, some customers may not like the service provided by artificial intelligence. As a result, they will decide to refuse to use this business’s services; in this situation, they will lose everything: both customers and business. We decided to leave both the AI system and the live staff, and it will also be convenient for businesses to use AI to perform small tasks that are not related to customers. Furthermore, we also decided to leave the live staff to communicate with customers over the phone. Given all the decisions taken, we believe these are the best ideas to satisfy all stakeholders.
Conclusion and Action Plan
To sum up, it is essential to note what an important role and meaning this activity carried. If initially our thoughts were aimed at universal automation, now it is clear how carefully we need to approach this process. After all, we considered all possible options in this work and agreed on exactly where to use AI. It is also important to note that an essential role in a person’s work is his creativity and ingenuity. This assignment shows how significant it is to develop logical thinking, creativity, and the ability to be an ethical specialist in the future. The ability to feel and use feelings rationally, turning them into sometimes excellent solutions to problems, can demonstrate a person’s dignity and being a good employee.
Reference List
Dignum, V. (2018). ‘Ethics in artificial intelligence: introduction to the special issue’, Ethics and Information Technology, 20(1), pp.1–3.
Haenlein, M. and Kaplan, A. (2019). ‘A brief history of artificial intelligence: on the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence’, California Management Review, 61(4), pp. 5–14.
Yampolskiy, R. (2020). ‘The uncontrollability of AI’. To be published [Preprint].