Many of us already rely heavily on technology for everyday tasks, but the very technology we need to get through the day could soon be after our jobs - and the shift could happen much faster than we think. Claims made by an expert in artificial intelligence predict that in less than five years, office jobs will disappear completely to the point where machines will replace humans.
The idea that robots will one day be able to do all low-skilled jobs is not new, but Andrew Anderson, CEO of UK artificial intelligence company, Celaton, said the pace of advance is much faster than originally thought ‘I'm afraid it’s now a reality that most clerical workers will disappear. This has profound implications for jobs of course, but huge technological advancements are being made all the time and artificial intelligence (AI) has now become very sophisticated to the extent that it can think and learn like a human,’ he said. AI, for example, can carry out labour intensive clerical tasks quickly and automatically, while the latest models are also capable of making decision that would traditionally be made by humans. The case is already being seen with many online retailers using automated customer service agents. Earlier this year, technology firm IBM turned its supercomputer Watson into a robot call centre.
The artificially intelligent computer system took on the role of a customer service manager called the Watson Engagement Advisor.
The service uses IBM's Big Data Analytics technologies to gather data about customers and make sure the answers are best suited to them.
Watson can then personalise its responses based on the company, and the type of customer, for future calls too. Robots are also used by the police and military as bomb-disposal experts, for example. Earlier this year, students from Cornell University invented a robot that can fetch food and drinks, do the housework and carry out other everyday tasks.
While researchers from Bielefeld University built a robotic barman called Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems, or JAMES for short. But this advantage can come at a cost. According to a report filed last year by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the greatest loss of jobs between 2010 and 2020 is predicted for administrative, clerical and secretarial occupations.
This is set to amount to 387,000 jobs Mr Anderson continued: ‘AI is sophisticated enough to know if a correspondence is a complaint and then how important it is. For some people this is difficult to believe which is why we have to demonstrate it live. Seeing is believing after all.
‘The perception of ‘too good to be true’ is diminishing as more companies adopt AI to accelerate and improve profitability, customer service and shareholder value. Anderson added that AI was a ‘game changer’ and although it could affect jobs, there were much greater benefits for the customers. Machines can significantly increase productivity and therefore reduce costs. They can improve customer service, compliance, scale and efficiency. Independent AI expert, Massimo Barbato - who wrote Thinking Beyond Limitation which explores the impact of technologies on everyday life - agreed.
‘While it was once mainly lower-skilled jobs squeezed by new technology, AI could undercut the ‘knowledge’ professional.
‘By 2025, machines will be able to learn, adjust, exercise judgement, and re-programme themselves. ‘The hardest hit would be professionals working in sales, education, healthcare, IT, management, finance and law – knowledge-based jobs, where analytics tools, mobile internet devices, apps or web-based services such as the cloud can be developed to outperform humans.’