Robots taking people’s jobs—examples

[Puppycow]

World's First AI-Powered Humanoid Robot CEO Enters the Boardroom

As concerns rise about robots and artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the workforce, the world’s first humanoid robot has been given the corner office as one company’s new CEO.

Mika is the brainchild of a collaboration between Hanson Robotics and Polish rum company Dictador. This CEO robot isn't just a technological marvel; she has been programmed to embody the distinctive spirit and core values of Dictador.

"I don't really have weekends — I'm always on 24/7, ready to make executive decisions and stir up some AI magic," the robot told Reuters in a "video interview" at the time.

OK, I know. I’m not that gullible. This is clearly a gimmick. I’m sure that if someone were to examine the company charter and whatever legal documents define who the actual decision-maker(s) are, they would find that the robot does not have actual legal authority or legal standing as a salaried employee.

But there have been and will be actual people who are either replaced or made redundant or obsolete by technology in coming years. Things already look somewhat dire in my own industry, translation. I still have a job and I haven’t heard any rumors about layoffs coming up but it does make me worry about the future. There’s a new trend called MTPE, which stands for machine translation plus editing. As an editor I think nobody is yet confident enough to say that we don’t even need a human being to check this and make sure that there’s no glaring errors. But in 5 years, who knows?

 

[theprestige]

Automation has been quietly transforming how we work and the kind of work we do for years. Are there still travel agents around? Probably, but I bet it's not nearly the industry it used to be. There was a time, you needed to book a flight, you had to talk to a human being, explain what you want, work with them to get it all set up. Now you just hop on the airline's website and click through a few screens backed by automated systems. Get to the airport, if you don't need to check luggage you don't need to talk to a ticket agent at all. You can just check in via an automated kiosk. Or check in from home via an automated system the night before.

Speaking of air travel, lots of airports have tram systems connecting different terminals and concourses. Those are all automated. Did any tram driver lose their job, though? Probably not. Rather, those jobs were never created in the first place. The tram was always going to be automated.

I'm in IT - systems administration. Amazon Web Services provides a vast suite of automated tools, that allows me to quickly set up virtual datacenters full of servers and databases and network infrastructure. Hundreds of datacenter install and configuration jobs that were never created, because the robots do them better.

And most of my job is actually developing automated systems to handle all my virtual datacenter setup tasks at the touch of a button. The robot isn't taking my job. I'm building the robot so I can give it my job.

 

[Orphia Nay]

I know of an office undergoing "digitisation" in which three people recently retired after around 100 years of service between them.

The office had to close.

There might be a sort of Venn diagram that can be drawn that has old staff, new staff, computers, IT people, and incorrect/correct information.

 

[Puppycow]

I know of an office undergoing "digitisation" in which three people recently retired after around 100 years of service between them.

The office had to close.

There might be a sort of Venn diagram that can be drawn that has old staff, new staff, computers, IT people, and incorrect/correct information.

Interesting. I'd like to know more about this office to understand. How many people worked there, including the three? Was it one office of many or the main office? Was it just the office that closed or the whole company? Are you saying that these three had essentially been irreplaceable essential employees?

 

[theprestige]

I know of an office undergoing "digitisation" in which three people recently retired after around 100 years of service between them.

The office had to close.

There might be a sort of Venn diagram that can be drawn that has old staff, new staff, computers, IT people, and incorrect/correct information.

Was this supposed to be on topic? Where's the robot taking anyone's job?

 

[Puppycow]

Was this supposed to be on topic? Where's the robot taking anyone's job?

I'll allow it. It could be a counter-example. Or maybe not. I'm curious to hear more though.

"Digitisation" is a rather broad term and many offices have been successfully "digitized". In fact, I think that computers are now an essential tool in the modern office. I doubt that's why the office had to close.

 

[theprestige]

I'll allow it. It could be a counter-example. Or maybe not. I'm curious to hear more though.

"Digitisation" is a rather broad term and many offices have been successfully "digitized". In fact, I think that computers are now an essential tool in the modern office. I doubt that's why the office had to close.

Naw. ON is telling tales orthogonal to the topic of the thread.

 

[Orphia Nay]

It was a regional land mapping and management office. I don't actually know if the digitisation and new software that's been implemented can replace them. I gather nobody knows yet.

It's up to you to "allow" my post or not.

I thought it was on the convergent topics of knowledge replacement, staff structure, and human and machine learning, not merely some simplistic idea of robots.

 

[Puppycow]

If anything, it seems rather late in the game to be talking about "digitizing" an office. That's a thing that mostly happened decades ago. Perhaps they had to close because they were too late to digitize?

 

[Orphia Nay]

If anything, it seems rather late in the game to be talking about "digitizing" an office. That's a thing that mostly happened decades ago. Perhaps they had to close because they were too late to digitize?

Many foolscap and odd-sized paged hardcopy files still hadn't been scanned, I gather, and there were lots of very large old maps.

 

[Puppycow]

It was a regional land mapping and management office.

Many foolscap and odd-sized paged hardcopy files still hadn't been scanned, I gather, and there were lots of very large old maps.

OK. So I infer that it was some sort of government office.

It sounds to me like the closure might be because whatever function they used to provide is no longer needed in the age of digital maps. These old paper-based maps are historical curiosities now. In that sense, one could say that the "robots" have taken their jobs, albeit indirectly.

I thought it was on the convergent topics of knowledge replacement, staff structure, and human and machine learning, not merely some simplistic idea of robots.

Yes, I don't intend a strict definition of the term robot.

 

[Orphia Nay]

OK. So I infer that it was some sort of government office.

It sounds to me like the closure might be because whatever function they used to provide is no longer needed in the age of digital maps. These old paper-based maps are historical curiosities now. In that sense, one could say that the "robots" have taken their jobs, albeit indirectly.



Yes, I don't intend a strict definition of the term robot.

They needed to know things like when or if to send in a surveyor to settle boundary disputes in the instance of discrepancies and possible encroachment.

I guess a software programme could be programmed to do that, but I don't know if anyone designing the software knows what the rules are. There are, I gather, a cromulent number of laws and rules that haven't been taught to younger or tech-savvy staff.

I could be misconstrued as taking the side of the retirees here. I'm ambivalent . I believe the laws and rules are all gazetted, so they could be searched.

 

[Puppycow]

Ah, that makes some sense. But the functions of one office could be reallocated to another. Perhaps it made sense to consolidate these functions in one central location along with other government functions.

 

[BrettM]

In this country we have people taking robot's jobs - or at least doing work that can be much more efficiently done by a small appliance.

Transnet responds to viral video of workers using makeshift tools and a bucket to remove rainwater

 

[Brainster]

If anything, it seems rather late in the game to be talking about "digitizing" an office. That's a thing that mostly happened decades ago. Perhaps they had to close because they were too late to digitize?

I think about the office I first worked in back in Grover Cleveland's second term. We had a typist pool. A few years later there were Wang word processors, and I can remember my boss scolding me when he caught me amending a document I had written out in longhand after I saw the printout. His concern was that I would be seen as just a typist. It was funny because he was no Luddite, and when I explained that it was easier for me to make the changes as compared to drawing arrows and writing new paragraphs, he said okay but to get up if any guests or higher-ups came in. Of course, all the typists are long gone now.

 

[Puppycow]

I think about the office I first worked in back in Grover Cleveland's second term. We had a typist pool. A few years later there were Wang word processors, and I can remember my boss scolding me when he caught me amending a document I had written out in longhand after I saw the printout. His concern was that I would be seen as just a typist. It was funny because he was no Luddite, and when I explained that it was easier for me to make the changes as compared to drawing arrows and writing new paragraphs, he said okay but to get up if any guests or higher-ups came in. Of course, all the typists are long gone now.

The modern equivalent is what in my company we call either an "operator" or sometimes "DTP" (desktop publishing). They make the final document to be delivered to the client look professional and clean. Choosing the right fonts, spacing, pagination and so on. I only edit the words and leave all of that stuff to them.

But I do remember back when I first started here that we literally did a similar thing. That is, the document to be checked would come printed out on paper double-spaced and I would mark it up with edits (using a green pen, always green) to be made by the operator/DTP people. And that was this century too.

 

[dirtywick]

i work in manufacturing, which is pretty heavily automated.

in manufacturing, when you're talking about robots you're talking about the classic arms with articulating joints, but it includes others. basically anything that can move in a 3d space on multiple axii would be considered robot. automation is much more general and would probably apply more to what you're getting at.

definitely eliminated some jobs over the last 15 years, more than it created. the jobs it created are more difficult and technical due to the increased complexity and broad skill set needed to work on them, but higher paying.

 

[Puppycow]

If anyone’s interested there’s a podcast I listened to this morning called “Will AI take my job?”

https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next-tbd/2023/11/does-a-i-have-a-job-at-gannett-already

 

[a_unique_person]

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/FA2235H041S00


At 13 minutes in.



A young woman is brutally murdered by her ex boyfriend in a school gym changing room. He used a hammer.


The Guardian published a story.


https://www.theguardian.com/austral...ydney-school-coach-st-andrews-cathedral-death


Microsoft Windows picked up the story and published it on the Windows News Feed.
AI is used to publish the content. The AI added a poll.

What do you think is the reasons for the womans death?


1. Murder.
2. Accident.
3. Suicide.

The comments section was not impressed.


Microsoft used to have journalists doing the work but they were replaced with the AI.

 

[Darat]

The modern equivalent is what in my company we call either an "operator" or sometimes "DTP" (desktop publishing). They make the final document to be delivered to the client look professional and clean. Choosing the right fonts, spacing, pagination and so on. I only edit the words and leave all of that stuff to them.

...snip...

That is what my other half does, been doing it for 25 years for the same company. There are less operators these days, but that is because there is less need for the work, automation has not so far been able to do their job. It's been tried a few times and it hasn't been successful. Whether the latest "AIs" will be able to do his job is something being looked into, so far it seems rather unlikely. (They also tried to outsource to the likes of India but had terrible experiences and it has always come back to having a local team the bankers and analysts can interact with.) Part of the reason why it hasn't been automated is because those that dictate the work like to say things such as - and I'm not joking - "Duplicate this page from someone else's deal book but make it look pretty and add in a map". Any decent AI would be telling them to go away rapidly within an hour.

Interestingly internally his group have used ChatGPT to create or rather "edit" their own training documents. Everyone reckons they are improved by the process, but they have still had to go back and edit some of the work ChatGPT did because it made some changes that "textually" were correct but not actual process/ops correct.