With huge leaps being made in robotic tech and artificial intelligence, touted to affect jobs by as early as 2024, Delia du Toit gets the low-down on the robot revolution...
The term ‘robot revolution’ conjures up images of a faraway dystopian future reminiscent of scenes from flicks like Ex Machina. It might not be quite that drastic, but experts say that we may very well be on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution that will change the work landscape as we know it.
Is this good or bad?
The burning question is: will people be replaced by robots in the workplace? Experts differ greatly in their opinions. As with any change, some predict disaster while others see golden opportunities – usually, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.
‘The Future of Employment’, a 2013 University of Oxford study, said 47% of jobs were at high risk of automation in the next 10 to 20 years. High risk here could mean complete automation, or part-automation – the latter may result in employees needing to upskill or reskill to fulfil new requirements in existing jobs, which may see them lose the job anyway if they can’t keep up with new demands.
Tumelo Mojapelo, head of content at trends-analysis company Flux Trends, says robots will take over up to 35% of jobs in SA by 2030. And it isn’t only blue-collar work that’s going the way of WALL-E, he adds – it’s white-collar roles, too. But just because something can be automated, doesn’t mean it will be. “Robotics might be developing rapidly, but there could be a delayed adoption due to the costs of buying this tech.”
This story is from the June 2018 edition of woman & home South Africa.
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This story is from the June 2018 edition of woman & home South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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