In the future, you probably will not go to a realtor when buying a house or dealing with a person by mailing or picking up a book from the library. Instead, it will deal with robots tasked with fulfilling those functions.
This is predicted by the researcher Carl Frey, of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Along with another scholar, Michael Osborne, he devised a methodology for estimating the chances of a job being automated. He argues that we are entering a new phase of technology advancement on jobs.
First, machines replaced simpler activities, such as functions on factory assembly lines. Now, with the advancement of robotics and artificial intelligence, there is an ever-increasing threat to professions that require more complex skills and are usually associated with the middle class. "No industry or occupation is immune to automation." In the past, this was restricted to repetitive activities. "Now there is an immense volume of data being generated." Computer technology has become sophisticated. Electronic devices used in robotics are better and cheaper, the expert told BBC Brazil. "This allows us to identify patterns and automate non-repetitive activities, such as doing a translation or driving a car, things we did not believe we could automate a decade ago."
Frey analyzed 702 different types of jobs with an annual salary of more than £ 40,000 to identify which "white-collar" professions are most likely to be automated.
At the top of the ranking are credit agent (98.36%), credit analysts (97.85%) and real estate brokers (97.29%). Jobs as a manager of compensation and benefits (95.57%), mail order service (95.41%) and nuclear plant operator (94.68%) are also very threatened, according to the expert's calculations.
In general terms, the jobs in the service, sales and construction sectors are the most subject to being computerized. Telemarketing is also an activity that potentially tends to be run more and more by machines and less by humans around the world.
Cash, bank or supermarket work has already been easily replaced by computers. Those who work with transportation and logistics or with administrative support should also be eventually replaced by a robot.
What are yout thoughts about this?