Artificial Intelligence: Is it Benefiting or Hurting the Labor Force?

Along with the fast growth of technology, along with the inventions and innovations on artificial intelligence, more companies and government bodies have started taking advantage of it. Years ago, they were starting to be widely used in big companies for mundane and repetitive tasks, jobs that are done by low-skilled laborers. From surveillance cameras, the use of chatbots on websites, biometrics for population data and passports, virtual assistants and even helping with translations between countries, artificial intelligence has been proven to be beneficial in order to increase the efficiency of human life.

Nowadays, more and more people have been more familiar with the use of autonomous robots. However, with the constant growth and invention, more robots are now programmed to be smarter and are even predicted to be able to overtake some of the humans’ harder tasks, jobs that are done by high-skilled laborers. This phenomenon has been a controversial topic on whether these advanced robots will benefit the human race, or on the other hand, put the entire labor force at risk for not being able to compete against smart machines. One of the latest inventions happened in Singapore, with its currently being tested autonomous robots to help deter bad social behavior of its citizens.

As one of the safest countries in the world currently on rank 7, Singapore has recently come back with new efforts to protect its citizens. The country has started trialing robots to patrol around public areas and detect poor social behaviors, in order to achieve stronger portfolios of their surveillance tools. Bad behavior such as not acting in regards to Covid-19 safety measures, smoking in prohibited areas, and illegal parking of bicycles, are detected by two autonomous robots on trial by Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency.

The patrol robots, called Xavier, are equipped with cameras with 360-degrees visions that can also see in the dark which will scan for bad social behavior and give real-time alerts to the command and control center. The cameras use a video analytics system programmed to recognize one’s posture and other visual indicators. The two robots are mainly operating on the high foot traffic areas in Singapore. In the three-week trial, the robots will be used for surveillance and to educate the public on proper behavior rather than as law enforcement.

Developed by HTX in partnership with the government, Xavier is designed to help to improve operational efficiency and reduce manpower needs for foot patrols. These are expected to be useful especially in manpower-intensive operations so the policemen can then be reinforced for heavier crimes. Xavier is not the first artificial intelligence product used in Singapore. The word “Xavier” actually means “new home” in Basque, and it is an updated version of the police’s Multi-purpose All-Terrain Autonomous Robots, or Matar, which have been used multiple times the past years during larger events such as the National Day Parade, Marina Bay Countdown, and Chingay Parade Singapore. Mr. Cheng Wee Kiang, the representative from HTX’s robotics, said: “we gave this robot a new lease of life and expanded its capabilities.” (Yuveng, 2021). Furthermore, compared to the previous robots before, Xavier also has improved video stability and the analytics system developed by HTX.

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has been long celebrated by many. AI helps reduce human error, as long as it is programmed properly. Using the algorithm made from past information, and more practice, AI helps to reach a greater chance of accuracy. AI robots also help take jobs with high risks, such as defusing bombs, going to the deepest parts of the oceans, coal and oil mining, or helping with after natural disasters, and even space exploration.

Robots are also more efficient in comparison to humans who need to take rests and breaks from time to time. Machines can work with the same performance over a longer period of time, and this is particularly important when they are doing repetitive tasks. In this present digital world, AI can also help with digital assistance, by answering most asked questions from customers, and leave the customer service to handle bigger and more complicated queries from the customers (Kumar, 2019). With the robots being equipped to take high-risk jobs, repetitive tasks, then humans are expected to be able to refocus on jobs that require creativity, have bigger autonomy, and need high engagement between other humans, expecting empathy between the working relationship (Marr). Humans are then expected to have higher job satisfaction because they will have the tendency to do something with a greater purpose.

Artificial intelligence also tremendously helps with modern health care and the current justice system. With better monitoring and diagnosis, AI can influence healthcare. An estimation from McKinsey predicts that big data can save medicine and pharmaceuticals up to 100 billion USD annually (Marr). Patients can also receive a more personalized treatment and get real-time medical information with an interconnected health and medicine database. Uncovering criminal activities can also be enhanced with AI. Technologies such as biometrics data, fingerprints scan, and facial recognition which are currently widely used in public places such as airports, can help the justice system, along without crossing the individual’s privacy.

The robot revolution is purportedly in the offing. Lately, there has been a rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Singapore. However, the downside will not only affect employees such as police officers from losing their jobs after getting replaced by robots, there are more employees from different fields that are also harmed. ‘As artificial intelligence continues to get smarter, social robots are poised to replace humans and become receptionists or personal assistants to bosses, journalists, and lawyers. (Li Yen, 2018) The recent rise of robots resulted in people getting triggered in times of uncertainty and panic in fear of losing their jobs. Indeed, robots may be more efficient and precise in producing products and delivering services, however, at the end of the day they are made of cold hard metals, thus human touch cannot be replaced.

This issue arises in many countries all over the world and can negatively impact businesses in a way. There is a study that estimated how there were 400,000 jobs lost due to automation in U.S. factories from the year 1990 to 2007. (Yglesias, 2015) There has been a rapid drive to replace humans with robots due to the fact that companies are struggling to maintain a safe working environment during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Another way this could impact employees is that workers lose autonomy and privacy when constantly being watched and guided by robots. This issue arises not because of the robots, but because of the manager’s structures that are behind it that perceive their employees as a cost to the business that needs to be cut instead of them being a resource. Notwithstanding the technological advancements, productivity growth has been declining in recent years, this could be due to the fact that firms focus too much on monitoring robots thus preventing the creation of new tasks and creating new opportunities.

All in all, according to the BBC, ‘Robots can simulate human intelligence (artificial intelligence), however; they are unlikely to replace humans in the areas of social and emotional intelligence.’ (Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee, 2015). Thereby, the jobs that require empathy, communication, and human touch will be the least affected by the technological advancements taking place. The mannerisms that come with human nature such as creativity and compassion come as convenient since robots do not inherently possess those traits, therefore, they can be defeated. Nevertheless, technology does not necessarily mean exploiting workers and that robots are coming for all our jobs; there has been a controversy about how this could also encourage the creation of new non-existing jobs.

REFERENCE:

Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee. (2015, September 13). Brynjolfsson and Mcafee: The jobs that AI can't replace. BBC News. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34175290.
Kok, Y. (2021, September 6). Autonomous robots check on bad behaviour in SINGAPORE'S HEARTLAND. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/autonomous-robots-checking-on-bad-behaviour-in-the-heartland.
Kumar, S. (2019, December 12). Advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence. Medium. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://towardsdatascience.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-artificial-intelligence-182a5ef6588c.
Lin, C. (2021, September 6). Singapore trials PATROL robots to deter bad social behaviour. Reuters. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from https://www.reuters.com/technology/singapore-trials-patrol-robots-deter-bad-social-behaviour-2021-09-06/.
Li Yen. Emergence of AI in Singapore — will robots take over our jobs? The Epoch Times (Singapore). (2018, December 19). Retrieved September 23, 2021, from https://epochtimes.today/emergence-of-ai-in-singapore-will-robots-take-over-our-jobs/.
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