As humans, we have developed a complex relationship with technology.

Many of us love nothing more than getting our hands on the latest smartphones or gadgets or can’t wait to try out whatever new feature has been launched. But thinking about artificial intelligence and where this is all heading is a bit concerning.

We like our smart tech, but we also fear it due to the fact that the smarter it gets, the more it takes over us. Here is the widespread concern that accompanies significant leaps in technology: Artificial Intelligence and automation will take jobs away from humans. Is that true?

We fear the unknown

At the start of the industrial revolution, there has been a fear that each technological advance in the workplace will head to higher unemployment. However, a study of census results in England, where the first industrial revolution began, shows the opposite. According to Deloitte, an economist, who studied the relationship between jobs and the rise of technology by trawling through census data for England and Wales back to 1871, technology became ‘’the great job-creating machine’’. Instead of taking away jobs from humans, technology created a new demand for other roles. Technology didn’t change jobs but rather replaced them. ‘’New Collar’’ workers of technological age are highly skilled problem-solvers who can manage complex, automation jobs processes. With new technology, the traditional way of working in the manufacturing sector has been changed. It also changed the perception of it.

The transition of ‘’blue collar’’ to ‘’white collar’’ managerial level work is not going to happen on its own.

Manufacturing companies must plan and invest in developing their workforce to meet those needs. In the US, the automation is going to the next level. The convenience store opened in the basement of the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle in January gives the customers the chance to pick what they want off the shelves and walk out again. No checkouts and no cashiers. Instead, it is what the tech giant calls ‘’ just walk out ‘’ shopping made possible by a new generation of machines that can sense which customer is which and what they are picking off the shelves. After the customer walks out, they receive the receipt on their phones for items that they have purchased. Technological change is happening rapidly and it has an economic, social and ethical outcome.

The question is what do we think will happen to those workers in those industries and what does it mean to our future? What’s your perspective on the topic? Feel free to share your ideas right below in the comments.