Advanced automation: the good, the bad, and the ugly — part 2
We all know that automation can offer a lot. It has its good sides, but also its bad ones. In this second part, we’ll talk about the bad that automation brings and what measures are being taken against it.
Originally posted on March 15, 2017
In our previous blog, we talked about an example of a company that is being fully run by automated bots. If you haven’t read it, you can read it here.
Automation can provide a lot, it can save and make money. Robots, for instance, can replace humans and are even better at their jobs. Humans are emotional creatures, who are sometimes not easy to handle. Robots, however, continue at their jobs with a constant productivity and high efficiency for however long they’re programmed for.
A study by Frey and Osborne shows an estimate of 47 percent of the U.S. Jobs will be replaced by robots in the next 10–20 years. Those who work in transportation, production, logistics — that kind of work — are likely to lose their jobs first to robots, according to the report.
It’s not strange that companies decide to use robots. After all, they can do a lot more than humans can. But that doesn’t mean that money should be chosen over morale. But most of the times this does happen. Therefore, you see that humans are being replaced by robots. What about all the jobs that are being lost because of this? And what measures are being taken to prevent this?
As Psychology Today wrote about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ robots, implying that ‘good’ robots will be an extension of the worker, instead of replacing him, and bad robots, of course, replacing workers, is in my opinion nice of Mr. Eisold to say that robots are good or bad, but the robots are all the same. It’s not that these robots have ‘good’ or ‘bad’ scripts hard-coded in them, it’s their operators that do good or bad. It’s them who decide how they use their robots.
For the companies that use robots as an extension of the workers, good job! Keep it going!
For the companies that replace their workers with robots, booo!
But how do we stop these companies using robots for the bad?
In an interview with Quartz, Bill Gates stated that robots who replace human workers should be taxed, as a way to stop or at least slow down the bad use of robots. The tax inherited from the replacement of workers by robots can be used to finance jobs, such as taking care of the elderly or working with kids. In these sectors, there’s a huge shortage of people to help. With the robot tax jobs that require some human empathy than robots cannot give, can be made possible. The income of a human worker is taxed, and the employer has to pay tax when hiring a human worker. Why not robot workers as well?
A European lawmaker recommended a proposal to tax robot owners for retraining workers who lose their jobs because of robots. The proposal, however, was rejected because of a negative impact the tax would have on innovation.
Although politicians and lawmakers are aware of possible future unemployment due to automation, proposals are being rejected. Do we have to wait for the problem to become real before measures can be made, or will that be too late?
Only time will tell…
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