You Will Be Assimilated

An editorial in today’s Financial Times argued that humans and robots can work side by side, and that it’s something we should encourage. The idea is wrong and wrongheaded.

The essay notes that robot writers work alongside human reporters, freeing the latter to do investigations while the former tracks down mundane details. Such “cobots” help workers in a a variety of industrial settings by taking on difficult or dangerous tasks. The newspaper concluded:

“Both developers and companies considering automation should consider AI systems as tools to augment human capabilities, not replace them. By making co-operations rather than competition the main aim, job losses can be minimized [sic] even while increasing production.”

First, the conclusion is wrong because automation is technology that performs with no or minimal human involvement, so the work that a robot does is most likely to have once been performed by a human being. Granted, some of it might be dirty, difficult, or dangerous, but it’s accomplished with an investment in machinery instead of salaries.

And, though replacing people with robots might be a really welcome deal in some unique instances, consider the reality of the vast number of jobs that have been lost to automation (telecom, financial services, even the FT’s media example) and those that’ll disappear once cars can drive themselves.

The gross addition of robots to the workforce all but necessitates a net reduction in human participation…

[Read the entire essay at A Cross of Silicon]