Robots have been threatening to become the new workforce for generations. It has been a cause of alarm for many in production and other medial jobs, where bots have slowly been automating processes. Now a Chinese company has made the switch, and it has made a huge difference.
The Rise Of Robots
Changying Precision Technology Company fired more than 500 of their workers and replaced them with robots, leaving only 60 human workers still on the payroll. The result? A 250% increase in production, an 80% decrease in incidents, and a noticeable improvement in goods quality.
People are aware of this trend. In 2016, Pew Research did an interesting survey of Americans that showed most thought within 50 years robot would take over the workforce. This thinking fits in line with a report done by Oxford University’s Dr Carl Benedikt Frey and Professor Michael Osborne. They pointed out the improvement in robotics for detail oriented and fine tasks requiring pattern recognition.
Not Just For The Blue Collar Blokes
What does all that mean? For one, the prediction about the rise of robots is coming true. For another, it isn’t just the menial jobs that were once expected being impacted by this inevitable development.
We are seeing AI’s being implemented at major companies to handle customer care, such as the automated bots at Google. There are bots that can adapt to your tastes and act as personal shoppers, guiding you to products specifically tailored to you. Even cars are becoming automated, and proving to be safer than human drivers by a long shot.
In fact, you could point out any industry and see where it is being touched in some way by physical or digital robots. Even some teaching is switching to open source programs developed to allow the student to work closely with AI to learn new concepts.
Innovation: The Pros and Cons
For some people, this will always be seen as a disaster. We are still in a world with generations that are losing jobs to this workforce of better, stronger, faster and safer machines. More are to come as industries are automated to greater degrees.
But this also shows the progress of technology, which is being developed and controlled by humans. It doesn’t show an end to jobs for people, but a need to change what those jobs may be.
Unfortunately, we do not live in a global world that works in tandem on these issues. That makes pushing for education to compensate where it is most needed next to impossible.
Source: ZME Science