Two Sectors where AI killed human jobs
Sectors that are disrupted & changed for good. These sectors are experiencing high job attritions & skill change
The easiest topic of discussion on AI is the jobs that it is going to kill. Even people who don’t have any idea of AI are discussing how AI has killed thousands of jobs. This article explores the three domains that will see a skill shift in employment and the current standard of employment would no longer work in coming times.
Artificial Intelligence is about automating repetitive actions and improving efficiency. It is going to take away some jobs where there is high repetition and we can’t do anything about it.
Security & Surveillance
Security & Surveillance is not an industry but a sector that includes a lot of players. Some of them deal with monitoring, some with the investigation, and some with preventing harm. Essentially all of them are catering to making this world a safer place.
This sector generally employs people who have intuitive insights into suspicious events, who are strong, and who have fast responses to acting in not-so-good situations. The prominent industries in this sector are prison systems, residential & workplace security, personal security, police, army, etc.
If one observes this sector, one can understand the repetition of activities in this sector. The most important task is monitoring, followed by decision making, and acting. Artificial intelligence based security systems have a natural advantage over any life form when it comes to monitoring.
With the presence of thousands of sensors that can detect even the slightest movements or any amount of changes in surroundings. When it is added with human intelligence & Machine learning, the decision-making is quick. There are thousands of quick actions that the AI-enabled security system can take in a second and it also gives the remote person time to understand and act without making haste.
This sector has already started facing heat from automated systems. The number of people employed to keep properties safe has plummeted. More and more people are using surveillance cameras, automatic doors, warning, and alert systems. A single group of security personnel can monitor the entire surroundings with the assistance of sensors and other such hardware. The systems are growing and improving day by day. These can detect and decide if the warning is false, and also identify the most relevant action for any situation.
How the sector is going to change?
Since the preliminary tasks of monitoring and warning are already taken by the AI, the skill level of an operator now demands action after the initial activities. While in earlier times, monitoring itself would require multiple personnel where the highest skilled would be a supervisor. The current times eliminate the need to employ the juniors and only demand the senior-most to constantly screen the audio/ video and decide actions.
Another change the industry will experience would be in form of consolidation of resources. Earlier, this sector was highly reliant on individuals which are not suitable now because a single individual can’t use the advanced systems to track and monitor the surroundings. Thus, there will be small and medium-sized corporations that would employ people of different skill types and they can sell their solutions to society, the workplace, or an organization.
Another change the sector will experience is its natural integration with disaster management and police services. Since the monitoring now would be automated, the same security company can also aid in disaster management services. Earlier the disaster management service industry didn’t see any traction due to high charge rates, less probability, and demand. Now the odds have changed, the same company can sell the disaster management benefits to the workplace and society along with security services. This combination would not only lure customers but also provide more revenue to the service provider.
Transport & Logistics
Transport & Logistics need no introduction. The sector is the backbone of our economies. The traditional way of shopping has already changed with more and more people ordering things online. The boom in E-commerce has instilled another life in the traditional transport & logistics sector.
The sector includes many activities, such as inventory management, sorting, conveying, storing, transport, payment, etc. It was earlier impossible to imagine that this sector would be dominated by AI due to the intrinsic challenges that the sector faces in everyday situations. But the sector has defied all odds and is riding on the wave of AI.
The primary reasons AI, machine learning, and automation have entered this sector are the high volumes and the limits to human capabilities. Humans have been dominating it for centuries but the demands have changed now.
With the development of advanced & fully automated robots, the picking, sorting, and stacking of items can be done at high speed. Even the cranes and heavy machinery are programmed to work autonomously. Below shared is an autonomous system that can unload cargos from ships (which is usually considered as trickiest due to continuously changing surroundings). This system and a lot of other systems which track inventories, store items, accept and deliver orders, manage payments & close the order book are revolutionizing the industry.
How the sector is changing?
First and foremost, the life of this sector is in material handling which is a repetitive process. The use of sorting robots, who can stack items day & night is adding new life to the sector. The space management and inventory handling are automated with the use of QR codes & Barcodes.
The robots can trace order, locate an item among millions of similar items (due to their memory of location), and automatically update the status of the item. The changes are happening in real-time. Human operators can intervene whenever there is a fault in the processing system (which usually doesn’t happen).
The jobs of workers who used to sort, stack, store, and locate items are already finished. Human operators are still used for monitoring functions (which is only proportional to what they were doing earlier). The existing systems rely on human operators to deliver the items, which is soon going to change. Currently, the industry is mulling about using automated UAV systems to deliver orders and that can soon become reality. However, for now, we can wait and watch.
The skill levels of the operators required would be more technical. Unlike earlier times when a non-skilled operator would enter and do well in the stacking, and sorting business, the need has changed for more educated and trained professionals who can work with automated systems. The new requirements include knowledge of AI, identifying issues with the system, and making decisions to prevent any disruption in the ongoing process.
Once the system is ruled by UAVs, the need for human drivers would also be less. That will evolve into operators who can monitor the UAV and take control in adverse situations. Thus, the skill level is increasing and the number of jobs would decrease.
