The path to automation requires robots to collaborate with humans, rather than simply replace them outright. Most jobs will still require human intervention to some degree.
The risk of work automation is greatest in predictable, manual, and repetitive work environments and in industries with more stringent regulations.
The risk of automation is lower in unstructured, dynamic and unpredictable work environments and in industries that involve high regulatory scrutiny.
The US investment bank Goldman Sachs, for example, employed more than 600 stock traders at its peak. Thanks to machine learning algorithms capable of performing complex transactions, these 600 traders have been reduced to just two. Instead, about a third of its workforce is now employed as computer engineers.
Amazon, for example, is using 45,000 robots in its warehouses. But at the same time, it is creating thousands of new jobs for humans in its logistics centers.
We know that robots are not good at grasping, picking up, and manipulating items in unstructured environments.
The risk of work automation is higher in predictable work environments and in industries with more stringent regulations. This includes jobs or tasks that are manual and repetitive.
This has happened to manufacturing. Now it is affecting more than 10.5 million jobs in restaurants, cleaning positions and warehouses.
In hospitality, the ease of automation is high for repetitive and manual tasks such as preparing coffee or preparing specific dishes. This is particularly true in environments with highly structured processes and menus.
Many startups are working on digital checkout and table ordering software to replace the tasks of cashiers and servers.
Automation and expertise augmentation (EaaS) software is rapidly replacing entry-level white-collar jobs in areas such as law (eg, automated document scanning and auditing), media (eg, of AI-based news and roundups) and even software development.
The good news is that the risk of automation is lower in unstructured or unpredictable work environments. This includes industries that involve high regulatory scrutiny.
In healthcare, dynamic decision-making in unpredictable work environments makes these patient-facing jobs difficult to automate, especially when a high degree of emotional intelligence is required.
Although road transport is at high risk of automation, this is unlikely to happen widely in the next decade due to regulatory challenges. While the technology has the potential to reduce manual labor, it faces regulatory challenges as it still requires a human driver for off-road driving.
The construction industry, for example, is unstructured and dynamic. Requires human supervision.
Retraining and retraining employees will be a recurring theme in the future of work. Future-proof jobs will require constant updating, re-learning, and the acquisition or updating of skills and experience so that we can always be future-proofed and job-ready and safe from automation.
