Under the Microscope: Are Robots Going to Take

We all grew up watching movies and reading comics with robots taking over the world until our beloved superheroes stopped them. An alien takeover has also been on the table, although that one might take a bit longer to shape into reality. 40% of people’s jobs are predicted to be taken over by artificial intelligence in the next two decades, and it is unlikely that Captain America will come to our rescue.1 Suddenly, these made-up stories do not seem so far-fetched.

After the industrial revolution that began in 1760, we became more efficient and connected on a global level.2 However, we are slowly seeing that jobs that are considered to be repetitive, are being eliminated. In fact, by 2030, it is predicted that 11 million jobs will be taken over by AI in China, and 1.5 million in the U.S.3 Therefore, it is creativity and innovation, the ability to be a problem solver, along with a certain amount of social intelligence, that are of interest to companies and investors, because they are attributes that cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence. Although talk of a UBI4 is a prominent solution to this issue, if automation was boosted to 30%, global GDP would increase by 5.3% that year, which is currently an additional $4.9 trillion per year.5

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While most media outlets are sentencing us to our doom by the year 2030 in almost all aspects, including global warming, poverty, world hunger, and the ever-looming AI takeover, one network is singing a different tune.6 They believe that both, the optimists and pessimists of AI, need to take a “chill pill”. They maintain, “There is still a long way to go before robots will be able to match several fundamental human skills.”7 They go on to explain that scientists are far from recreating the detailistic aspects of human hands, perception, control, interaction, and reason in their technology. In short, they think that for the next 20 years, robots will merely be sophisticated machines as they always have been, if not slightly more advanced.8

So, do not go and book your ticket to Mars just yet. The world is not being taken over by robots… for now.

1. Troy Pospisil, “Council Post: Robots Aren't Taking over the World (Yet) - Artificial plus Human Intelligence Is Still the Best Combo.” (Jersey City: Forbes Magazine, 2021). 2. Adam Zeidan, “Industrial Revolution.” (Encyclopædia Britannica). 3. Chloe Taylor, “Robots Could Take over 20 Million Jobs by 2030, Study Claims.”(Englewood Cliffs: CNBC, 2019). 4. UBI: universal basic income 5. Chloe Taylor, “Robots Could Take over 20 Million Jobs by 2030, Study Claims.”(Englewood Cliffs: CNBC, 2019). 6. 7. 8. Norbert Krüger, “Five Reasons Why Robots Won't Take over the World.” (Melbourne: The Conversation, 2018).