Robots & AI will Snatch Your Jobs?

Submitted By:

Dr. Asha Ambhaikar

Professor, Department of CS & IT

Kalinga University, Raipur

Contact:9229655211

Email: asha.ambhaikar@kalingauniversity.ac.in

Whenever something great is happening in the world, it is accompanied with a big wagon band of doomsday predicters. Take the very latest example of e rickshaws in India. No jobs lost – infect tripled. Working environment for the rickshaw puller – improved. Comfort of passenger – improved. Time of journey – reduced. Trips per day – Doubled. Supporting jobs – increased. Income of supporters – increased. But remember, the prelaunch media had only highlighted the predicters, not these advantages.

When computers came, bank staff went on strike. Reason resistance to change. Take away the staff’s computer, they will go on a strike again. Reason they and all the rest have tasted advantages of this change.

When robots entered the shop floor to assemble cars, the workers went berserk. However, angry then, the very same workers found tons of opportunities in dealerships outside. Happy today, they stated flourishing. 

In all three cases no jobs were lost. Only the ecosystem around these jobs changed. The story with Robotics & AI is no different. Now that AI is entering our lives, the doomsday predicters are back. The sad part is that these predicters include some from the very companies working on these wonders. There is no problem with what they say, but serious problem exists in the series of wrong messages it sends to the current & future stakeholders on social media – the parents & the children. 

To understand this let us take the hottest villain of AI – Chat GPT. At the core of Chat GPT sits ML (machine learning). At the core of ML sits AI (artificial intelligence). At the core of AI sit improved automation & decision-making techniques, & at the core of these sit people called coders (you and me). They write or produce the codes or programs or algorithms (all mean the same thing) that enables Chat GPT to work for us.

These coders are akin to the rickshaw pullers, bank employees & factory workers of the above examples. No coder will ever lose a job. Only the eco system around the job will change. As new gizmos like GPT & Sora emerge, so will the tools available to the coders to arrive at these gizmos.

The second thing people predict is that with AI having arrived, Children Need not Learn Coding.  They talk of acronyms loke No Code & Zero Code. They remain on the surface of these acronyms & advertently or inadvertently avoid digging deeper.  Again, how very wrong & confusing they

can be. In the above three cases, if any child wanted to become a rickshaw puller, of a banker, or an assembly line worker, he had to first learn the ABC or fundamentals of that work. Most of this ABC does not change. It only gets modified. This ABC was important to lay the foundation then; It is equally important for laying the foundation today. Once the foundation is laid, the structure over it is built using the changed eco system.

Need for children to learn coding to lay this foundation is not going anywhere. On the contrary, it has become even more vital & important. Infect it has become so important that Coding is called the English of Tomorrow. A child not knowing coding tomorrow will be considered ill literate, & will face the same disadvantages as a child not knowing English has faced since the last two centuries. Should you risk your child carrying the infamous illiterate tag?

Finally, schools will only do this much. The real stuff has to be learnt by one self on line, or off line in coaching centers or through a guru near you. Very similar to learning anything else from math’s to music or from IAS to IPL.

References:

1. “The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies” by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee – This book examines how advancements in technology, particularly AI and robotics, are reshaping the job market and the economy, and proposes strategies for adapting to these changes.

2. “Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future” by Martin Ford – Ford explores the potential impact of automation on various industries and job sectors, discussing the implications for employment and society.
3. “Automation and Anxiety” by Larry M. Bartels (Published in The Wilson Quarterly) – This article discusses the anxieties surrounding automation and job displacement, examining historical perspectives and potential policy responses.
4. “How Robots Change the World: What Automation Really Means for Jobs and Productivity” by James Bessen (Published in Harvard Business Review) – Bessen examines the relationship between automation, productivity, and employment, challenging some common assumptions about the impact of robots on jobs.
5. “The Future of Jobs Report” by the World Economic Forum – This annual report explores the anticipated changes in the global job market due to technological advancements, including the impact of automation and AI on different industries and occupations.
6. “Technology at Work v4.0: The Future Is Not What It Used to Be” by the OECD – This report provides an in-depth analysis of how technology, including AI and robotics, is reshaping the nature of work, skills requirements, and the distribution of jobs across different sectors.

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