Automation Technology in the Workplace: Will a Machine Take Your Job?

Featured Article by Robert Cordray, Independant Technology Author

Picture taking a ride around town in a self-driving taxicab, or having the item you just ordered online delivered to your door by a flying drone within minutes of a mouse-click. The future sounds pretty cool—unless you happen to drive a cab or deliver packages for a living. But that’s the reality we will face in the future. As automation technology continues to advance, the loss of human jobs is inevitable.

In a recent talk at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank in Washington, DC, Business Insider reports that Bill Gates issued a warning to governments and businesses that they need to start preparing for a future where software and robots will be putting a lot of people out of work. “Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set, “ said Gates. “Twenty-years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people have that in their mental model.” That’s a pretty dire forecast for tomorrow’s workforce. And in light of Gate’s prediction, the critical question for today’s worker is, “which jobs will be the first to lose the race against the machine?”

We’ve already seen the demise of a number of repetitive production line and warehouse jobs due to robotics and warehouse automation. Here’s a look at what jobs will probably be next.

Travel Agents will be among the first to take a one-way trip to the unemployment office. In fact, with the proliferation of computer-managed online websites, many travel agents are on permanent vacation already.

Accountants and Paralegals are in jeopardy of finding themselves standing in unemployment lines soon. Advances in software will soon give machines the ability to perform many accounting tasks such as checking lists of numbers. And virtual paralegals will soon be able to perform tasks such as reviewing documents for key words that could help legal cases—without breaking for lunch— faster, better and cheaper than humans can.

Jobs for Parking Meter Attendants are predicted to expire in the not too distant future. Soon “smart meters” will populate the streets to automatically keep tabs on parked cars and—after a 5-minute grace period—charge car owners in real-time for staying over the designated limit.

Real Estate Agents could soon be locked out of the home selling process by technology. Today there are numerous companies and websites that allow consumers to buy and sell homes without even going near a real estate office. For example, sellers can list their homes on websites such as Zillow, Craigslist and Microsoft Expo for free, then search for online discount brokers who work on lower commissions than agents. In addition, closing paperwork can also be prepared online, further eliminating the need for human real estate agents.

Taxi drivers are slated by many tech forecasters to soon be “kicked to the curb” by technology. And Google’s autonomous or self-driving car seems on track to do just that. Being that rules and regulations for operating self-driving cars on open highways will be a long-time coming, the first self-driving cars are predicted to appear in designated downtown areas, where they will shuttle passengers around on pre-programmed routes. Although adoption of self-driving cabs may be slow at first, in the not too distant future, taxi drivers will need to pull over for good.

As AI technology continues to advance, Air Traffic Controllers will eventually be grounded. Although total AI control of flights won’t be landing at airports anytime soon, the growing ability of machines to monitor and direct air traffic, free from human error, will eventually knock human air controllers completely off the radar.

Advances in automation technology will forever change the workforce.  And as Bill Gates warned in his AEI address, governments and businesses need to start preparing for major job losses. While technology proponents tell us that we all stand to benefit from the gains in productivity that automation technology will yield, those who stand in ever-lengthening unemployment lines may tend to disagree.