Are Robots Competing for Your Job? The Very Real Trend of Automation

Are robots competing for your job? The idea of robots taking our jobs isn’t new, but as Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more advanced and more tasks are automated, is there a job a robot cannot do and where do human beings fit into the workforce of the future. Job automation likelihood is increasingly a reality with technology replacing human jobs.

Technology is accelerating at an unbelievable pace, and artificial intelligence has already become ubiquitous. On the one hand, AI might not pose the threat that Hollywood would have us believe: brilliant robots that kill or enslave humanity. However, AI and robotics present a very real threat to the jobs of many; the impact of automation on employment and the future of work is an increasing reality.

“The thing we want to protect in the future is income, not particular jobs….If we’re going to protect income and not jobs, it means we’re recognizing the possibility that jobs may no longer be the standard way of earning an income”. (Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate)

After all, the harsh reality is that when a company can save money by replacing humans with a machine, that’s just what they’ll do. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the self-checkout at the supermarket. And as technology continues to advance, more and more jobs are likely to go to robots with many jobs at risk of automation.

However, your future need not be gloomy. It’s merely a matter of upskilling and creating a brighter future for yourself.

What Is AI?

First and foremost, let’s explain what we mean by the term AI. In his book Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Future, Lasse Rouhiainen defines it as “using computers to do things that normally require human intelligence”.

With such a high level of intelligence, of course, society would have to reconsider such big questions as what it means to be human. It’s possibilities such as this which have led to concerns by many, including physicist Stephen Hawking and serial entrepreneur Elon Musk.

AI is discussed in terms of weak AI and strong AI though. Weak AI is the term that describes the AI currently being employed. As pointed out by Jason Strong in Future You: Essential Future Technologies You Need To Know To Survive The Digital Era, weak AI is “artificial intelligence which has a specific intended purpose and can only do that one programmed primary task”. Examples include military simulations and strategic games.

For instance, in 1997 IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue won a chess match against the best chess player in the world at the time Garry Kasparov. In reality, a move by the supercomputer confused and frustrated Kasparov, leading to his surrender. A mistake only a human could make.

In contrast, strong AI is what we consider “general intelligence”. As Strong puts it, “AI systems which would be able to draw upon its own pools of resources to solve problems long thought to be only possible by human intelligence”. Perhaps a robot that you could discuss philosophy with, for example.

But, for our purposes, we’re discussing weak AI and the robots specifically designed to perform jobs such as the one you work at now.

Overcoming All Obstacles: The Human Story

However, humans have a long history of adaptation from hunter-gathering to agriculture to industrialization to digitization. And it’s far from a stretch to proclaim that there was never a safer time to be a human being than now.

Furthermore, the good news is that we have a wealth of resources at our fingertips enabling us to self-improve and self-learn. It’s rather difficult to believe that the first website was created only about three decades ago. Look how far we have come since then.

So why not take this as an opportunity to upskill and abandon wage slavery? That is, you can turn to the world of online entrepreneurship. With a job, you build wealth for someone else whereas with entrepreneurship you build wealth for yourself.

The Upside

And there are, in reality, three upsides to the amazing advancement of AI. First and foremost, we enjoy the benefits of AI through the way it’s utilized online. For instance, it optimizes our Google searches and our Facebook news feed. And in the world of e-commerce, Amazon utilizes it to learn what type of products and books we like. And, of course, the list goes on and on.

Second, through the study of AI, we humans learn more about ourselves and other life forms. As Margaret A. Boden puts it in her book AI: Its Nature and Future, “besides providing countless technological gizmos, AI has deeply influenced the life sciences”. And naturally, the more we learn about AI, the more we learn about intelligence in general.

In his book, Rouhiainen provides a balanced assessment though: “This world will be a reality in the very near future, but along with the benefits will come major challenges, for which we must be as prepared as possible”.

Online Entrepreneurship

The most important reason for our purposes, as we’ve alluded to, that AI development is positive is: that the robots taking our job compels us to search for an even better lifestyle-the lifestyle of an online entrepreneur. A lifestyle where we create our work schedule and work from where we want (e.g. traveling the globe).

What we’re discussing is not a get-rich-quick scheme though, rather a venture that requires hustle and determination. That said, the effort will be well worth it, as you build wealth for yourself instead of an unappreciative company that would gladly replace you in a heartbeat.

Since it would do no good to reject the reality of the situation, the best maneuver to make is to leverage the opportunity to upskill and develop the entrepreneurial mindset necessary for an exciting new life. (Beyond that, developers in the field of AI clearly are bound to enjoy career success as well).

Upskill & Enjoy Digital Freedom

“It’s Time to Step Out of the Sinking Titanic Economy & Into the New Digital Economy”.

With AI replacing jobs at an alarming rate, we can help you to transition from a traditional lifestyle to digital freedom. Upskill and create freedom and independence in your life to spend more time doing the things you love. Jobs for life no longer exist — future proof your income with a recession-proof online business.