Written By Arav Garg (Grade 7)
“I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people can design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that outperforms humans” – Sir Stephen Hawking
A few days ago, was my mother’s birthday. To surprise her I had ordered her a limited-edition watch from Amazon. It was supposed to be delivered on her birthday, but it had still not arrived! I went to the help section regarding the delay and was redirected to a chatbot. It was not concise at all and could not solve my problem. So, I had to ultimately reach up to the customer care. My problem was solved and the watch was delivered in the evening. The chatbot now, was not that helpful but yes, in the next 5 to 10 years it will surely learn more and take over the customer care.
Today doing tasks like surgeries, customer care and driving cars are being taken up by artificial intelligence. It may seem that this is a very slow change but it is happening faster than we can think.
“While AI could churn out creatives with speed and scale, innovation and brilliances would still be preserved for of humans. Hopefully human ingenuity will remain a few steps ahead of AI.” – The Times of India
Artificial intelligence can create many jobs and remove many too. It will create jobs like machine learning engineers, AI trainers, prompt engineers and research scientists. Jobs like customer call, driving and speech translation and recognition are some jobs that artificial intelligence can and will eventually replace. AI will replace boring and unwanted jobs with more productive and enjoyable ones. AI can replace many jobs but the one ultimately creating it will be human. Hence, I think that AI will create more jobs than it removes. No doubt though that many jobs will be lost too.
Many jobs have been replaced by the advancing technology and computers. Before computers the cartoons were drawn by hand in flipbooks and had to be recorded by the camera. Now we have computers for that. Sending messages and communicating has become easier than ever with the help of Gmail, WhatsApp etc. Now we do not have to write letters or fax to anyone these days. We hardly see our postman these days! The air traffic controls before were done completely manually, now it is handled by computers and done manually in emergency situations. These are some jobs advancing technology has already taken over.
Recently on a trip I saw that that our driver had his hands off the steering wheel. I was scared. The car was changing lanes and driving on itself. On asking the driver I got to know that it was a self-driving car and used cameras and sensors to get information about its surroundings. My driver also said that his job is in danger or will reduce significantly in the coming years due to the advancement of AI and technology in this field
Customer service jobs will be done by AI- driven chatbots and virtual assistants. The best part about this is that it can be multilingual and is available 24/7. Jobs such as driving are also as risk with the rise of self-driving vehicles. We already have Tesla. AI can be a great research analyst too. While a human can only go to maximum 20 to 30 websites the AI can do the research from as much of the websites available. Robots can be great factory workers and excel at repetitive tasks like assembling car parts or managing materials in warehouses, making factories faster and more precise. These are some jobs AI can eventually replace.
My English teacher was a great inspiration for me. She did not only teach me English she also taught us how to give speeches and poems with expression. Her storytelling skills were also great. These skills can be imparted only by humans as AI does not have such skill.
AI cannot replace all jobs. Professions such as teachers, lawyers, politicians, singers, athletes, artists and writers involve uniquely human qualities that AI cannot fully replicate. Teachers go beyond imparting knowledge by shaping students and inspiring them. Lawyers and judges navigate through cases by their own personal experiences and make decisions that profoundly impact lives. Politicians creatively solve the public issues and their decisions impact our lives greatly sometimes. Singers connect to the audience and convey their feelings through music which technology cannot replicate. Athletes capture human essence in sport which technology cannot. Artist and writers add a human touch to their pieces that cannot be replicated by AI.
I had visited a steel plant a few years ago and saw people work with furnaces that were more than 1000 °C. This was hazardous for health. Robots can take over these jobs. Who will be the ones who will be maintain it? The people whose jobs got replaced. Upskilling. These days due to excessive global warming and heat working at noon in factories can be dangerous robots can work in these parts of the day.
People can learn how to maintain and train these robots. Robots can replace the repetitive and unwanted jobs that is monotonous for humans.
We have robotics and AI classes in school these days. This should be mandatory in all schools to prepare students for the future. Schools must organize trips to factories that have started using robots and AI. This will give a clear idea about AI to students and how they can use it in the future or make a career out of it.
The government can also help the people who lose their jobs to advancing technology by opening vocation schools that will train them in professions that have a demand on at that time. The schools could teach things like creating and maintaining robots and things that robots will not be capable of doing.
People must also stay relevant in this world of technology. The coming of AI and robots is inevitable now. Everything has its pros and cons. Sure this is a great advancement but, this advancement of technology must be advanced only till the point before it starts going rouge and is used for the destruction of mankind.
Featured Image Courtesy – Live Science
