When you hear the word robot?
You probably think of this guy.
An actual robot that looks like a human or at least Boston dynamic’s Atlas.
That’s why you are probably not worried since they don’t seem to hit the streets
any time soon.
But we don’t need these kinds of robots to do your job better than you.
If you are a freshman, by the time you graduate, 4 years from now.
It will be quite difficult to find a job and 10 years from now, that job would probably
won’t exist at all.
Not because robots are coming but they are already here.
In this video, you are going to learn, how automation works, which jobs are already getting
automated, and which ones are going to disappear in the next 10 years.
Algorithms
The reason you clicked on this video is that the robot behind youtube analyzed your behavior
and decided that you are going to click on this video.
and since you did, the algorithm got it right and now it knows a little bit more about you.
In the past automation use to mean Giant machine doing simple repetitive work, however that
has changed.
Every purchase you make online, every website you visit, every google search you make tells
a little more about you to the algorithm.
Because algorithms are little robots who sit behind any tech you use and learn on their
own.
You no longer have to teach the machine to perform a certain task, feed with a bunch
of information, they will analyze them, try millions if not billions of combinations and
eventually will get better than you.
We, as Humans also learn by trial and error, however, the difference is, we needed billions
of years to come to the point where we are now, and robots can learn all of that in almost
no time.
- voice recognition
I know that the Siri on your phone seems like it is still stuck in 2011 with iPhone 4s but
voice recognition technology has improved dramatically since then.
No one wants to talk to the robot when he calls to a call center, but have you ever
wondered why call center agents have become so good at solving your problems.
It's not because they somehow got smarter but rather it's the robot that's doing the
job.
Every call center records your voice when you call them.
Because the robot first turns your speech into text to understand your problem, and
then goes through an endless number of information within seconds to find suitable solutions
and presents them to the agent.
And all that is left for the agent is to click on the right solution that's on the screen.
So that step by step instruction will appear in front of him (screen).
And he just reads them to you.
"As soon as the customer says they want to cancel a credit card, the robot understands
that, goes ahead and gets the instructions for the agent on how to cancel a credit.
According to an article on BBC, this technology reduced the average call durations from 4.6
to 4.2 minutes on average.
That might not sound much, but those saved seconds add up across millions of calls in
an industry where time is money.
What does that mean?
Call centers now need fewer agents? that already puts thousands of people out of work!
Agents don't need to be trained anymore, because robots are doing everything? so that puts
the trainers out of work!
And while the agents are choosing the most suitable options, the algorithm behind the
scenes is taking note and after millions of interactions, the algorithm will learn to
be as good as a human in choosing the most suitable option from choices that the algorithm
itself comes up with.
That's when even agents will be put out of work.
Self-driving cars
that’s not only where automation is taking place.
We all know about self-driving cars, you probably have seen a tesla in your neighborhood.
But you don't care!
I mean why would you!
Every year 1.3 million people die due to car accidents, and 35 million get injured.
Basically, by the end of the day, 3287 people will die because there are cars in the streets.
That's a big number, In fact, in the last few decades, these numbers only grew exponentially.
But, what is the main cause behind so many accidents, it turns out that in almost 95
percent of the cases, its the fault of the driver.
Simply put, accidents happen when drivers aren’t paying enough attention.
And that's where self-driving cars come into the picture.
Unlike humans, robots can stay focused on the road all the time.
Currently, self-driving cars have a 98% safety rate, even though that's quite hight but no
one will trust a self-driving car even if there is a 2 percent chance of an accident.
However, it's just a matter of another few years before the guys in silicon valley will
get that number to 99.9 percent.
Remember, the longer we wait, the more people we are going to unintentionally kill.
But that’s not the only problem with cars.
the truth is, cars are an extremely inefficient mode of transport.
On average they are only used 5 percent of the time, the other 95 percent, they are parked
somewhere waiting for you!
And even when you drive it, you spend a big chunk of that time looking for parking.
Self-driving won’t only solve that problem, but completely get rid of traffic.
I know that it sounds like a complete Utopia, however, CGP grey has a great video on that
which link I will live in the description.
Despite all the advantages of this innovation, millions of people who’s livelihood depends
on driving will be out of work, which includes, 3.5 million truck drivers in America alone.
The other 5 jobs that will disappear
At first, it might seem like robots will only take routine and repetitive jobs, but a sophisticated
job is nothing but a combination of many simple repetitive tasks.
What that means is that the algorithm is also about to replace jobs such as accounting.
Robots are simply better at analyzing financial statements, auditing, bookkeeping and on and
on.
That doesn't only concern accounting, most of the law jobs are subject to automation
because algorithms are just better at going through an endless number of papers, legal
discovery, creating contracts.
They can even argue about parking tickets and handle divorce cases.
So to become a lawyer, you either become exceptional at your job, or robots will replace you.
That also includes most of the administrative jobs, assistants, secretaries, middle management,
administrators in general, you name it!
For the last few decades, we have created an unbelievable amount of content.
And as we know, the more data we feed to these algorithms, the faster they learn, so robots
that will be writing the news are just around the corner.
Even though most of the automation is happening with white color jobs, these algorithms also
have helped to create robots that would replace humans in the construction industry.
Since most of the construction work consists of heavy repetitive tasks from moving materials
to building walls.
why this time is different
Automation isn't something new, it has been happening throughout human existence, we have
always been trying to come up with inventions to make life easier.
And it's not the first time we are facing such a challenge.
in fact, in the last few decades, we have automated a good number of factory jobs!
But what did these people do when they lost their jobs?
With a little bit of training, they took up construction, transportation, and administrative
tasks? but what's going to happen when all of these
jobs will be automated at once.
But what happens when you cant become a lawyer, accountant, and all administrative jobs are
automated, and as a backup plan, you cant even driver uber for living.
How to prepare yourself
However, not everything as bad it seems, at the end of the day, we are automating everything
to make life easier for us - Humans!
Of course, there will be new types of jobs, but they will most likely require more sophisticated
skills and since we humans are not fast learners, at least compared to the algorithms, most
of us will struggle to adapt to this new economy that's ruled by algorithms.
The only way to be among the winners in this economy is to constantly learn because the
moment you stop learning, sooner or later, the algorithm will learn to do that better
than you and you doomed again.
Of course, you cant spend your entire life going to college since if a 4-year degree
costs 100K dollars, how much do you think is a 30-year education would cost you.
That's where skillshare comes into the picture, with over 21 thousand classes, you can learn
pretty much any skill you want.
That includes coding, web designing, photography, you name it!
In fact, if you want to learn to make animated videos, you can take this motion graphics
course by Kurzgesagt and learn the basics of after-effects and start making animated
videos.
The first 168 people will use the link in the description will get a 2-month free trial!
So click on that link and sign up!
That's it for today, thanks for watching and I will see you in the next video if robots
ain't going to take my job.