Automation is a hot topic nowadays. The theme of automation seems to be everywhere. While there are some people who feel that automation is a good thing, there are also quite a few people who feel that automation is a scary thing because it could mean that there will be less jobs for humans. In my opinion, we can rest easy at this point in time.
These days we see automated kiosks in places like the grocery store, banks, and airports. At first glance they look advanced and they look like they are taking away jobs from humans who would normally do those jobs, but in reality they are not that great.
The kiosks that I have come into contact with, especially in grocery stores, are horrible. They can’t always recognize items, they give error codes, they make the process longer, and people have to manually enter information. It really takes at least 2 people just to monitor a handful of machines.
Just because the machines look advanced and high tech on the outside, doesn’t mean that they are at the level of humans at this point in time. I really don’t think they will be jeopardizing human jobs quite yet. I actually find that less people are using kiosks to begin with now than when they first came out. People find them frustrating and they find that the process takes a longer time with a kiosk than with a human being.
Automation is a great concept in theory, but in reality we have a long, long way to go before it is actually a threat to human jobs. Have you had a bad experience with an automated kiosk? Do you think human jobs are at risk? Use #AskTheFuturist on Twitter to share your stories. You can also use the hashtag to ask me a question for a future episode.
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Jacob Morgan is a keynote speaker, author, and futurist. You can invite Jacob to keynote your next conference, subscribe to his videos on Youtube, check our his podcast, or subscribe to his newsletter!
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