The World Economic Forum expects
automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to result in
the loss of at least 5 million jobs globally by 2020.
The data centers are monitored consistently by auto-
mated and intelligent engines. Only once or twice a
month do actual humans enter the data center to
replace failed servers and other equipment. Older data
centers that are more manual in terms of leveraging
humans are considered cost inefficient, and are being
replaced by increasingly automated data centers,
which typically leverage AI and other technologies.
Point the Compass in a New Direction
So, what’s a human to do in a world that’s becoming
more populated with robots, and even robots that
can do your job? It’s a matter of pivoting to other
career directions. Don’t worry, we’ve done this many
times before throughout history.
Consider the arrival of the internal combustion engine,
and the ability to move quickly across the land without
the aid of horses. Those who served the horse and car-
riage industry, including those who made carriages
and buggy whips, had to retool and find other ways to
stay relevant. Those who worked for those industries
had to figure out new career paths.
We have gone through many iterations of this shift in
the last hundred years, including the rise of comput-
ers, the rise of instant communications, the rise of
online stores... and the list goes on. These days, it’s a
matter of looking at what parts of the job market will
grow, or are growing.
Figure 1 shows that the number of job postings is
increasing in the machine learning space, which is
not surprising. However, these are likely to be taken
by those already on a computer career track, and thus
not helpful to displaced truck drivers. However, it is a
good option for those who are out of data center jobs
or other areas of high technology that are affected by
the growth of automation and AI.
The dilemma is that AI, and automation in general,
will take on much of the heavy lifting that’s currently
done by humans. This shift should make things safer
and cost less, when you consider the impact on most
lives. However, it will also take more jobs than it cre-
ates, and those who have been replaced by AI-based
automation and robotics won’t have the same options
as those in the high tech industries, who already have
to reinvent themselves about every 10 years to
survive.
Transitioning to an AI World
In a recent interview with Quartz, Bill Gates said that
a robot tax may be the way to go to allow for a better
transition to automation and AI-based job killing
technology. “These taxes could finance jobs taking
care of elderly people or working with kids in schools,
for which needs are unmet and to which humans are
particularly well suited.”
Gates argues that governments must oversee such
programs rather than rely upon businesses to do so,
since they are profit motivated. Government can
redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes,
or the displaced blue-collar workers discussed above.
Indeed, EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax
robot owners to pay for training workers who lose
their jobs. However, in February of this year, legisla-
tors ultimately rejected it.
There are no easy answers here. These are old prob-
lems in a modern setting, in terms of job killing auto-
mation. But the new AI technology evolution could be
distinctly different from prior evolutions. Why? AI is
smarter than we are.
SUMMER 2017 | THE DOPPLER | 59