Will robots make job training (and workers) obsolete?
Date Posted: June 22, 2017
Posted In: Discussion, Ideas, Workforce,
Workforce development in an automating labor market
From The Brookings Institution: A great deal of anxiety now exists in the U.S. over the future of jobs in an era of automation. Indeed, there are widespread fears that robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly perform the tasks currently performed by most Americans, rendering human workers increasingly obsolete over time.
Of course, this is not the first time in history that such fears have been expressed. The Luddites in 19th Century Britain were convinced that machines would largely eliminate human work over time. Much more recently and in the U.S., anxiety appeared in the “automation scare” of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when many Americans first became aware of computers and their potential to displace workers. And, even in the previous decade, fears that technology would enable employers to “offshore” vast quantities of US jobs to China or India have also been common at certain points in time.[1]
In each of these cases, the worst fears expressed by critics of automation have never come true; indeed, there has been no long-term trend whatsoever towards higher unemployment over time as automation has increased. As economists frequently explain, automation creates new jobs while eliminating older ones, in patterns that have held up again and again over time.
But is this time different? In other words, because of their greater “humanness” and abilities to learn more functions over time, will robots and AI present much greater challenges to human employment than ever before, resulting in more widespread job displacements and unemployment, or lower wages for those who continue to work?
And, even if this time is only somewhat different, does this suggest that training for specific occupational and industrial tasks—of the type often provided at community and 4-year colleges—is becoming outdated? Such investments could become obsolete as many occupations disappear or become completely revamped. Accordingly, some analysts urge educators to mostly focus on teaching a range of general skills—especially those that are technical, social/communicative or creative—that will make workers much less easily replaceable in a highly automated world.