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Generative AI burst into the public consciousness with the 2022 release of ChatGPT. Since then, AIās development has accelerated at a pace that is exhilarating and disorienting. Unlike past technological revolutions which primarily targeted manufacturing jobs, this wave of innovation is rewriting the rules for all, from workers in service industries to artists in creative fields. The rapid evolution of this technology is raising questions about its real impact on the workforce.
The debate over how automation impacts the workforce is age-old. Philosophers and economists have wrestled with these questions for centuries. Aristotle mused about tools that could operate independently, hinting at an early conception of automation. Centuries later, Adam Smith and Karl Marx examined the tensions between technological progress and labor, offering contrasting visions of how innovation shapes society. Smith advocated for machinery to amplify human labor and highlighted the importance of specialization. Marx worried about machines disempowering workers.
In 2023, Salesforce reported that more than 90% of surveyed workers felt that automation had increased their productivity, with 93% adopting a positive view after using it. The reason is simple; humans and technology go together. The strongest business results come from using technology as a tool rather than attempting to create a standalone replacement for human employees. This amplifying effect is why Goldman Sachs predicts that the integration of AI into the workplace has the potential to increase global GDP by 7%.Ā
While AI is undeniably reshaping industries across the board, its impact on office-based jobs and manufacturing may unfold along different trajectories. AI seems to threaten to displace human workers in the service sector in a way that feels unprecedented, whereas in the manufacturing sector this wave appears to be continuing a familiar pattern: transforming the role of human workers rather than entirely replacing them. The AI revolution in the physical world, rather than heralding the end of work, will most likely be powered by humans. Why? Robotics and automation, like prior industrial developments, excel at repetitive, mundane, sometimes physically challenging tasks. Humans excel at edge case situations. Near term, AI will not change that reality.
In fact, the application of industrial automation and physical AI has huge potential to boost employee experiences while also creating new jobs through the integration of solutions which require oversight, maintenance and service. These connected systems generate valuable data benefitting employees and open new strategic opportunities through data analysis and predictive action.Ā
Beyond the capacity to create new roles, industrial automation also improves the safety of the workplace. The tasks that AI and advanced robotics are tackling are often the most physically demanding and dangerous to perform. These factors lead to high rates of turnover in associated roles, while injuries caused by repeated strains and heavy lifting have the capacity to become chronic health issues. Further bottlenecks in staffing can also be resolved for industries with high seasonal variability, where demand for temporary labor ebbs and flows leading to increased competition for talent.Ā Ā
Voices on both sides of the AI argument tend to understate just how difficult it actually is to replace the critical thinking, responsiveness, and ingenuity that are unique to human employees. Current AI and robotic automation tools may not be anywhere near doing that, but what they can achieve is no less impressive when it comes to pure productivity.Ā The automation journey is still in its early days. As of 2021, only 5% of warehouses were fully automated and over 80% had no automation technology in use whatsoever. The next phase is more automation working alongside humans, not replacing them; ādark warehousesā that eliminate human workers may not actually be achievable for decades, if at all.
Taking a typical e-commerce warehouse as an example, robotic automation solutions can retrieve goods from a picking area and bring them directly to packers. From there, human packers can place goods directly into pre-erected boxes that pass down the line for automated height-reduction and sealing. Mispacks can be identified by computer vision systems and rerouted to manual triage lanes where employees can address them before they turn into costly downstream issues. Unplanned work is converted into planned work. The warehouse picks up speed and efficiency. Packing is stream-lined and uses less material. Jobs that might have required manually finding items across the warehouse to place into plastic totes for retrieval can now be focused on an ergonomic pack station. New, quality jobs are created via the technician requirements for maintaining automated systems, the strategic roles needed to react to captured data, and the shortened training times for new hires working with automated systems. This is how warehouse jobs can be brought into the future, with humans leveraging technology for their mutual benefit.
Itās time to challenge the misconception that physical AI and robotics will be job killers. Upskilling, reskilling, enhancing safety and boosting productivity should be the key areas of focus. Employers and early adopters who approach this the right way will gain more efficiencies and will attract more talent. At the end of the day, they will be offering better quality of work to their workforce. The companies that provide this kind of environment will position themselves to be the leaders of tomorrow, along with their employees.