Workplace Automation – How is it Being Used and How Could it be Used?

Recently we’ve seen a substantial rise in alarmist articles about “robots and AI taking over”, and how minimum wage increases will lead us all to lose our jobs because everything will soon be automated.

Clearly, this isn’t entirely true.

In many workplaces that use automated systems, the employees work alongside the automated technology. It is there simply to take on some processes and clear up time for the human employees to focus on other objectives that can’t be fulfilled automatically.

To clear up some of the fear and confusion surrounding workplace automation, we’re going to discuss what it really is and how it’s being used, as well as the potential uses for it in the future.

So, Will All Jobs Eventually Be Given to the Robots and Artificial Intelligence?

One of the biggest worries for people who are uncertain about workplace automation is the notion that eventually everything will be automated and people won’t have the option to work. At this moment in time, this is not something to be concerned about. The human brain is still far more complex and superior to a programmed piece of software, and if that were ever to change and artificial intelligence overtook human intelligence, losing our jobs would be the least of our concerns.

Of course, this is not to say that all jobs are safe. In certain industries such as vehicle manufacturing, we are already seeing less staff members due to automotive robots that are able to perform in a much quicker and more precise manner than human assemblers.

How is Workplace Automation Being Implemented Now?

Workplace automation has already been in use in certain industries for a substantial amount of time. As mentioned above, the motor production industry has taken to using robots for vehicle assembly and this has proven very successful. There are many other industries though that have implemented automation on many different scales.

Here are some examples:

• The Retail Industry – Over the past few years we have seen more and more customer self-service machines popping up in shops and supermarkets. These machines allow customers to scan their own items and pay for them without needing a cashier.

• Customer Service – It is predicted that by 2020, 85% of all customer support interactions will be handled automatically without any human input. Artificially intelligent chatbots can be programmed to respond to customer issues with the correct solutions. This cuts down workload and cost for businesses as human agents will only be needed if the chatbot doesn’t provide a correct resolution.

• Driving Jobs – Driverless cars are a brand-new technology that harnesses the power of technology to allow transportation without human input. These cars are only just being rolled out, but the technology is looking very worrying for those in the driving industry such as taxi drivers and truckers.

How Could Robotics & AI Be Used to Automate Jobs in the Future?

As technology advances further, the possibilities for AI and robotics to automate work processes expand rapidly. Some automated technologies could be very far off whilst some are just around the corner. Here are a few examples of how workplace automation could be automated in the future:

• The Medical Industry – Some surgeries require extremely precise movements that can be very hard for a human to pull off. In the future, it may be that these movements are instead handled by robotics and artificial intelligence, as they are capable of the extremely precise movements required for these surgeries.

• The Finance Industry – When it comes to mathematics there is no denying that a machine will generally be better at calculations than a human. A large chunk of the finance industry could be fully automated in the future. This could be done using an interface where customers insert their relevant data and computers process that information and provide customers with extremely accurate results.

• The Insurance Industry – Insurance fraud is understandably a huge problem for insurance providers. A large contributing factor of insurance fraud is human error in the workplace. Human employees are required to go through a vast amount of insurance claims all the time and this opens them up to making mistakes. Artificial intelligence could be programmed to be better than humans at detecting signs of insurance fraud and decimate the problem automatically.

Contact Appoly for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development

If you’re looking to automate some of the processes within your workplace, get in touch with us today and we can discuss your AI project and the ways in which it could help save your business time and money. Feel free to check out our artificial intelligence software development page for more information.