The Hadrian X robot is made But it is not just manual labour which will be affected The World Economic Forum predicts that robotic automation will result in the net loss of more than 5m jobs across 15 developed nations The rise of the robots will lead to an increase in the demand for those with the skills to program, maintain and supervise the machines. Most companies will have a Chief Robotics Officer and a department dedicated to automation. However, the human jobs created will be small fraction of the jobs which the robots will replace.
Any job that involves the use of knowledge, analysis and systematic decision making is at risk. Robots can not only absorb a large body of knowledge and rules. They can also adapt and learn on the job.
Where does that leave the displaced humans? The standard answer is education. Policy makers advise that people should retrain into higher skilled professions. The problem is most training simply provides more knowledge and skills which can also be replaced So what jobs can robots not do? Einstein said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ It is in the application of imagination that humans have the clear advantage.
Here are some things which robots do not do well:
- Ask searching questions.
- Challenge assumptions about how things are done.
- Conceive new business models and approaches.
- Understand and appeal to people’s feelings and emotions
- Design humorous, provocative or eye-catching marketing campaigns.
- Deliberately break the rules.
- Inspire and motivate people.
- Set a novel strategy or direction.
- Do anything spontaneous, entertaining or unexpected.
- Anticipate future trends and needs.
- Approach problems from entirely new directions
- Imagine a better future.
Let’s leave the routine knowledge jobs to the robots and focus on developing our creative skills. The most successful organisations will be those that combine automation efficiency with ingenious and appealing new initiatives. We will need more imaginative theorists, more lateral thinkers, more people who can question and challenge. We will need more innovators.
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