Introduction
Recently, people have heard more and more news about scientific innovations in artificial intelligence. Some people take this news positively, while others fear the negative impact of new technologies on their lives. The world is moving forward, space and the ocean’s depths, and the peculiarities of the brain’s structure and the human body are being studied. However, some people are worried about the development of technology – if the robot now knows how to lift weights, then a furniture mover is no longer needed. This means that this person will no longer receive a salary, and it is unclear what he will do. People hope to create an unconditional basic income, but simple fear spreads more and causes aggression towards artificial intelligence. Modern computers have learned to solve problems that, as previously thought, can only be done by humans. What people have believed requires knowledge, strategic thinking, and creativity, inherent only in humans, can already be accomplished by artificial intelligence. So what in the future will distinguish a human from a soulless machine?
Thesis and an Outline of Arguments
It seems that in the next hundred decades, people should not expect a complete replacement of humans with robots. The latter will indeed engage in some mechanical work previously performed exclusively by humans. However, not in all professions such a transition will be possible and valuable due to the specifics of labor. In addition, due to the existing measures to support those who lost their jobs, mass unemployment should not be expected. The overall expectation is that the human-robot relationship will simply shift into a new form, and become more complex and interconnected (Popovici 2). In general, the ongoing processes of increasing the role of artificial intelligence in people’s lives should be perceived as facilitating their lives and a way to free up their free time.
Arguments
A lot of existing technologies are aimed at automating most of the processes. At the same time, these scientific developments seriously affect the daily life of people. These technologies include a variety of bots, Internet assistants, and mobile applications. Organizations, realizing the benefits of automation, are also starting to use robots in operating. Instead of people, artificial intelligence-based systems are hired (Carbonero et al. 8); as a result, business efficiency increases and personnel costs decrease. However, it should be admitted that the extinction of professions is a natural process.
Long ago, lamplighters turned on street lights in the morning and turned them off in the evenings. The work was not the easiest one: in the cold and in the heat, people went out very early and returned very late, and their salaries were quite modest. With the advent of electricity, the need for them has disappeared. More recent examples of disappearing professions include typists, several times fewer than seventy years ago. The automation process is most developed in jobs that are too complex or unpleasant for people and harmful to their health (Schwabe and Castellacci 6). Robots cover the need to waste energy on dragging and lifting heavy objects, for example.
The conversation about the robotization of the healthcare industry requires special attention. With the help of new technologies, today, it is possible to detect serious diseases earlier and save a person’s life. Robots can easily replace those who perform purely technical work. Many operations are performed using the latest technology: small cameras allow doctors to view the body and the inside organs to make a more accurate incision. Robots in medicine are changing the approach to surgical operations, optimizing the supply and disinfection of consumables (Khan et al. 3). In addition, the need to use artificial intelligence has increased during the coronavirus pandemic. A robot can deliver food to patients in infectious diseases departments of hospitals instead of a nurse, who can get infected by such a patient. However, one should not expect complete robotization in this area since medical knowledge is scattered. Therefore, it will be too difficult and unreasonable to train artificial intelligence to process such data.
Indeed, there is a high percentage of those at risk of doing mechanical work. Drivers, accountants, or telephone operators could be replaced by artificial intelligence in the next 20 years. However, due to this, people will have the opportunity to prove themselves in intellectual professions – robots are still far from humans. The quickness of mind is needed in the work of a lawyer, teacher, screenwriter, graphic designer, and engineer. At the same time, it may be necessary to interact with a robot and new technologies in each profession. It has been said that machines will take jobs away from people for two hundred years, but technology only contributes to creating new ones (Dahlin 3). With the advent of new technologies, indeed, fewer and fewer workers are required. On the other hand, more qualified employees who will manage these technologies are becoming in demand.
The essence of the existence of new technologies is to improve the process. Writers do not need to rewrite the entire sheet by hand if a mistake is made, and they do not need to hire a stenographer either; they just need to press a few clicks on the keyboard. Scientists do not have to waste time walking around the territory and recording the area’s features- a robot dog will inspect the space for them. This is how the perfect interaction between robots and humans is born. Therefore, robots will not take over existing professions but will serve as assistants to people, performing labor-intensive tasks for them.
The aspect associated with introducing robots into people’s lives should also be discussed since this process is both expensive and troublesome. For some tasks, it makes no economic sense to implement them; using human labor can be easier and cheaper. Thus, robots are applicable where it is necessary to perform the same standard operation many times. For example, place a part in a machine, weld, paint, or stack boxes on a pallet. Robots are widely used in automotive and electronics manufacturing, where everything is subject to algorithms and focuses on mass production (Smys and Ranganathan 180). Since they are not equally important and necessary everywhere, one should not expect a complete replacement of humans with artificial intelligence.
Implementing robots in small and medium-scale production is difficult since the reprogramming process is very labor-intensive and lengthy. Accordingly, some employees will no longer be required in large industries since artificial intelligence will work for them. Production where only robots will operate, and a person will be able to control them even from home or office, may become possible only in a few decades. For now, people are needed because, initially, they are the ones who have to come up with the project. In addition, it is humans who decide how to use robots and then implement them and test their work.
People are much better than robots in a considerable number of areas and, one might say, even irreplaceable. These are not always areas associated with highly intellectual activity. Instead, it is working with unpredictable physical labor – for example, gardeners, plumbers, and locksmiths. Most non-creative professions that require strict adherence to algorithms have the potential to be fully automated. However, it is essential to understand that almost any business is communication, which cannot be handled without people and soft skills.
The modern economy, where the service sector dominates production, has created so many low-skilled professions that even now, millions of people can be painlessly and usefully replaced by robots. The reason for this is simple: the distribution and sale of goods/services, which has become the meaning of the consumer economy, are primitive processes, so more or less advanced algorithms can easily cope with them. It is not necessary to increase the number of people employed, but the quality of their life. The new economy needs a person to be a more solvent consumer. The more people with money, the more they shop and use services, and the better the country develops. As noted before, robots are needed since it is necessary to facilitate the performance of various mechanical and generally complex processes by people.
The most slippery and frightening point in the discussion of robotization is the problem of unemployment. True, this problem will not simply exist with an integrated, global approach. The point is this: those specialists who are now doing the work of robots can be divided into two parts. For some, routine activities take an insane amount of time that could be spent on creating something fundamentally new and unique. There are no questions here; robots will take off a heavy load from them and, by the way, will complete tasks many times faster. There are no tragic negative consequences here, as people’s lives will only get better.
A fundamentally different picture emerges if people pay attention to how the work of bureaucratic organizations is arranged. Usually, employees have a lot of paperwork to do, and the inefficiency of work reigns. In this case, the robot becomes an ideal replacement: it will always perform work at a high level, and it becomes possible to manage it remotely. Although employees of such organizations will indeed lose their jobs, unemployment in the usual sense will not happen. With the massive replacement of people with robots, such citizens will be able to receive unemployment benefits at least for a while. Moreover, a well-developed system of professional retraining can help such individuals master a new, more exciting, and highly paid job.
Conclusion
Today, people are witnessing the so-called digital revolution; automation frees up labor, increasing productivity, making people, companies, and countries more competitive. Thus, people should not expect the complete replacement of humans with robots in the near future. Although it significantly simplifies people’s lives, artificial intelligence is still not capable of doing, for example, solely creative or managerial work. Moreover, there are such professions in which robotization is impossible or unreasonable. These include, to some extent, the work of a doctor or nurse. People should think of robots as almost always impeccably operating helpers made to free up time for humans.
Works Cited
Carbonero, Francesco, et al. “Robots Worldwide: The Impact of Automation on Employment and Trade.” International Labour Office, 2018, 1-24.
Dahlin, Eric. “Are Robots Stealing Our Jobs?” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, vol 5, 2019, pp. 1-14,
Khan, Zeashan Hameed, et al. “Robotics Utilization for Healthcare Digitization in Global COVID-19 Management.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, 2020, 1-21.
Popovici, Gheorghe. “Robots Shall Not Replace Humans, Robots Shall Make Humans Human.” Robotica & Management, vol. 22, 2018, pp. 1-4.
Schwabe Henrik, and Castellacci Fulvio “Automation, Workers’ Skills and Job Satisfaction.” PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 11, 2020, 1-26.
Smys, S., and Ranganathan, G. “Robot-Assisted Sensing, Control and Manufacture in Automobile Industry.” Journal of ISMAC, vol. 1, no. 3, 2019, 180-187.