AI, Automation, and Your Job

Science fiction writers have long imagined a world in which machines not only complement human knowledge  but can supersede human limitations. In the 1960s, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry presented us with a sentient computer that would talk to members of the Enterprise crew. In the 1980s, Terminator creator James Cameron introduced us to a future world in which the machines not only become self-aware but also endanger humanity. Fifty or thirty years ago, most people regarded these portrayals of the future as nothing more than pure fiction.  But amid the fantastical plot devices was a foreshadowing of the world that was to come, and one which would come quickly—a world of artificial intelligence and automation.

time is moneyHumans have always looked for ways to make labor more efficient. The idea of self-sufficient, automated, mechanisms designed to execute specific tasks is not modern. The Greek god Talos, the first robot in human mythology, was charged with protecting Crete by flying around the island three times a day.  When an enemy ship approached Crete, Talos would send huge rocks and destroy the ships from a distance; and if enemies could get on the land of Crete, Talos would make his body super-hot and kill the enemies. In all likelihood, ancient Greeks would be impressed by the present state of machine evolution, as they envisioned a future in which machines could learn.

Artificial intelligence or “machine learning” is, simply put, teaching a machine how to do something. For example, we might feed a computer a bunch of data, and then direct it to make predictions. There is also software that becomes “smarter” over time as it accumulates more data. More and more companies rely on both artificial intelligence and automation to perform tasks previously been executed by humans.

You have probably read articles about how automation and artificial intelligence are going to take away all of our jobs. Although it is true that in some sectors, particularly in manufacturing, automation is responsible for eliminating jobs previously performed by humans, this particular dog whistle is alarmist at best.

classroom computerMachines are great. Computers are awesome. We can automate many things. And we can use AI in many fields. But the critical difference between automation and human cognition is that machines cannot make judgment calls. Consider the case in Sydney, Australia, in 2014. A gunman created a hostage crisis at a downtown Sydney café. People in the area began frantically requesting Ubers to leave the area. As the demand spiked, Uber’s algorithms went to work and raised fares as much as four times the regular rate. No human was involved to say, “hey, we have an emergency situation here; we need to cap fares!” Instead, the machines took over, and the result was bad public relations for Uber and livid customers.

AI can’t make gut-level decisions that affect human lives. Not every problem can be broken down into quantifiable pieces. And while data is great, data in a vacuum is useless. For data to be useful, it must be transformed into knowledge. Machines cannot do that; only humans can. The bottom line in the hysteria about the rise of the machines is this: businesses will still be serving and selling to people. Businesses will continue to need humans who have empathy, the ability to think strategically, and have a gut instinct. Take heart, so-called “soft skills” cannot be automated!

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