Artificial Intelligence: The Replacement to the Human Workforce

Artificial Intelligence is currently the most trending term worldwide. With the launch of new software, applications, robots, humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, and emerging technologies, everybody has started to discuss the future of AI and question whether AI will assist human jobs or replace them in the future. Let’s review this discussion in detail.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) in simple terms?

Artificial Intelligence is the ability of a computer or a robot to do the traditional tasks that are done by humans using human intelligence.

AI analyses, classifies, creates algorithms and draws predictions from the available data, and acts accordingly. After every update, new data is added to the database which aids robots and computers to learn and analyze the new data and improve their processes. This concept is also called Machine Learning.

Evolution of AI

The concept of AI was founded in the 1950s and is evolving rapidly since then. It began when computer scientists started exploring the concept of creating machines that could think and learn like humans. To explore this idea computer programs were designed to mimic the decision-making abilities of human experts. And this way, computers were introduced in the 1970s. Along with computers, mobile phones came into the market upgrading to smartphones having features such as calling, messaging, and camera, and it soon became a multi-functional pocket device.

The introduction of AI in Laptops and smartphones have replaced several devices, including physical cameras, albums, radios, music players, calculators, watches, alarm clocks, notepads, contact lists, and many more. Since the last two decades, the evolution of AI has helped humans do their jobs more efficiently.

Examples of Artificial Intelligence

AI is used in our work, businesses, and daily lives. Some examples of AI are E-payments, maps and detection, speech and facial recognition, social media, chatbots, and manufacturing robots. Let’s have a look at few present AI technologies that are already in our daily lives and in other sectors of the world.

Amazon (Alexa), Apple (Siri), Google (Google Assistant), and Microsoft (Cortana):These are the virtual voice assistants that can help you operate your phone or speakers from a distance without touching the device. These voice assistants and software agents can interpret human voices and respond via synthesized voices. They can search, set, call, text, play, and run other functions via the device owner’s voice command.

AI in Automobiles: Artificial Intelligence is being used to build self-driving vehicles. AI can be used along with the vehicle’s camera, radar, cloud services, GPS, and control signals to operate the vehicle. AI can improve the in-vehicle experience and provide additional systems like emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and driver-assist steering. Manufacturing robots are also widely being used by the top automobile manufacturers to make cars.

AI in Medical fields: AI has helped analyze medical images, such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, helping doctors make accurate diagnoses. It is also being used to analyze and identify trends and patterns in medical records of the patient data that can inform treatment decisions. AI-powered robots now can also perform minimally invasive surgeries with greater precision and accuracy.

All these examples show that Artificial Intelligence we are using today has already been used to assist human tasks. These AI systems have never created any threat of replacing human resources. But the emerging Artificial Intelligence in the upcoming decades can create a threat and replace the human workforce.

What do experts say?

According to the recent report of Goldman Sachs economists, as many as 300 million full-time jobs around the world could be automated in some way by the newest wave of artificial intelligence. The study suggested if generative AI continues to advance, then the workload of 25–50% of these jobs will be replaced by AI.

The artificial Intelligence future is arriving faster than the predictions shown in the long-hailed movie “Minority Report” set in 2054. According to research by scientists at the University of Oxford, Artificial Intelligence will be better than humans at translating languages by 2024, writing school essays by 2026, selling goods by 2031, writing a bestselling book by 2049, and conducting surgeries by 2053. In the next few years, AI will become an integral part of our lives reaching the level of super-intelligent machines to exceed human intellectual competencies.

How will Artificial Intelligence replace the human workforce?

Consider a bottle manufacturing company that makes 1000 bottles per day using 20 employees working on the assembly lines. Now, these employees have fixed work shifts, lunch breaks, tea breaks, and other allowances. But now the company decides to replace these 20 employees with 5 new robots. These 5 robots can combinedly produce 1500 bottles a day. But the question is will the company be ready to make costly investments in robots?

In my opinion, yes, the company will. Because if the same task which is done by a large group of people is now being done by a small group of people with more efficiency and errorless performance along with excellent added output and results, why wouldn’t a company decide to invest in robots. In the above example, the company reduced its workforce by 75% which is a cost-saving along with that it also increased its production by 50%. This also helped the company to keep high margins and profits.

Artificial Intelligence will not only replace the workforce in the manufacturing or engineering industry but in other industries as well. Because an AI Chatbot like ChatGPT can write codes, content, film script, and songs, solve assignments, pass different exams worldwide, and can also crack job interviews for the top Fortune 500 companies. And with the launch of many more such AI software, applications, and chatbots in the market, a threat can be observed to the roles such as content writers, graphic designers, customer services, retail, and marketing along with other jobs and sectors in the industry.

AI is beneficial for employers but not for employees

What does every business owner or company want or in other words what is the goal of every business? The answer is maximum profit, revenue, and efficiency, along with maximum time and cost savings, and yes, AI can provide all of these.

The companies or business owners who will be implementing AI in their companies may not be concerned about employees’ fixed shift timings, bonuses, merit increases, work-life balance issues, retirement plans, paid leaves, sick leaves, and other compensation benefits. The AI can resolve all these issues and can work whenever and however the company wants.

Implementing AI will require huge investment but will be beneficial for the company in the long run. Therefore, utilizing AI will create a win-win situation for businesses.

Will AI and humans walk hand in hand assisting each other?

In my opinion, it can be both yes and no.
Yes because AI is currently in the early stage. As AI is in the developing stage, it requires human assistance to understand and analyze how humans do their jobs. Humans are now collecting and feeding the database of Artificial Intelligence systems. At present, if more AI technologies are launched in the market, they can be used as an assistant by humans to do their jobs. But they will act as an assistant to humans for a very few years or maybe a decade. This decade can focus on Human-Machine collaboration. But what after that?

AI is an integration of software and hardware and does not have feelings, unlike humans. AI products and software have huge storage space for data which is increasing day by day. With such great storage capacity, machines can learn new things, tasks, conditions, and other skills on their own. Once it has learned the new skillset and tasks, it is assured that it is going to do the same tasks and perform better than human beings. Therefore in my opinion, no, the chances are less that AI and human jobs will walk hand in hand in the upcoming decades.

What are the jobs and skills AI cannot replace in the future?

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the topmost skills AI cannot learn or replace in the future. EI is required in jobs that include work such as sales and negotiation to understand human psychology. AI can replace the Intelligence quotient (IQ) but not the EI as it is associated with human feelings. To service, update and maintain the AI technologies humans will be required, but humans will have to upgrade their skills at that level to maintain and configure the robots and computers. In short, the product manager’s role will be necessary for the long run.

AI may not also be able to create innovation as humans and create business strategies for running businesses. Humans can tackle novel situations whereas AI cannot. We can say that AI can do multi-tasking jobs with more efficiency and accuracy when compared to humans but it cannot compete with humans in terms of creation, innovation, and emotional intelligence.

It is for sure that AI will replace human workforce but not at 100% capacity. To run any company or industry humans will be required because the end consumer for every product of a company or a business will be humans. Therefore while making products and taking decisions humans and their psychology will be necessary to understand the demand and market for the product. There are many fields yet left to be discovered and researched by humans such as medicine, space, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and many more. For now, we can say AI is no threat to human jobs and its creation will help humans as an assistant to study and discover more in the undiscovered fields and areas.

But at the same time, we need to think, what are the effects and concerns that could arise if AI really replaces human jobs. What will humans do for survival if no jobs are left for humans? Will there be any social and economic imbalance among the population on Earth? Accept it or not AI is coming, a situation may come where you will have to adopt AI or the AI will adopt you.

“Artificial intelligence is likely to be either the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity. We do not yet know which.”

- Stephen Hawking

Originally published at http://bloggerstopz.wordpress.com on April 2, 2023.