Running Head: AI AND ROBOTICS IMPACT IN SOCIETY 1

AI AND ROBOTICS IMPACT IN SOCIETY

COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT

KEVIN ESTRADA RUIZ

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO

 AI AND ROBOTICS IMPACT IN SOCIETY 2

Abstract

AI is becoming an every day gadget, available to almost everyone throughout different

platforms. Away from everything normal people would use, there is a professional usage to it,

AI along with robotics makes a powerful combination that could end industry the way it is today.

AI and robotics different effects in economics and society today and in the past and the way its

affecting our future and the way we live is the theme of discussion. Today we depend this

technology, what would happen tomorrow? We dont really know, but we can conclude some

theories based in facts and todays reactions. For the economical aspect we can say that robots

and AI systems are already taking some simple to difficult jobs away from people, and it affects

widely, from an industrial aspect to a simple restaurant, there are no barriers to it, it is a fact that

the effectiveness of this systems are unbelievable and not comparable to nothing else, not

comparable to a human in this case. We all know that this technology advancing is not seem as

bad in society eyes for the most part, we all enjoy technology, but in the rate this is going, we

would have a different and more educated opinion in the future.

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Annotated Bibliography

- Ford, M.R (2015, May 5). Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.

New York: Basic Books.

Essentially, Martin Ford book is an explanation on how technology advancements are

affecting our lifes, this statement goes into the economical aspect. This book claims to be a

guide to understand the growth of technology usage in the job field. Finally, he estimates lower

income for employers, an increase of income for business owners and a decrees of product cost.

Basically, this book is a recompilation of important info.

This Book is important to my paper because its information is on a high-quality level, it

exactly discusses the statement Im discussing and goes in depth with it, graphs, expectations, a

variety of important sources and more are part of this book.

-Greenwald, T. (2017, May 05). How artificial intelligence will affect your job. Retrieved

November 06, 2017, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-artificial-

intelligence-will-affect-your-job-2017-03-31

It starts with explaining how AI impacts our daily live, using google maps, searching

something in the internet, data bases and pattern searching, etc. it mainly discusses how AI

impacts workers, spotting the best candidates, Tracking what workers do at their desks are

some of the questions that AI solve in a daily basis. This article discusses how AI is affecting

employment today.

This article is important because is a more present way to see this problem, and

discussing it can lead to major effects and a more complete paper.

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- LeVine, S. (2017, April 14). No one is prepared to stop the robot onslaught. So what will we do

when it arrives? Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://qz.com/940977/no-one-is-

prepared-to-stop-the-robot-onslaught-so-what-will-we-do-when-it-arrives/

Quartz explain how people are about to lose their jobs by the hand of a robot, they

explain the concern of the problem and different opinions claimed by important people, such as

economists, industry owners and even the president. All the opinion goes to the pessimistic side

to see the problem. Then it goes to the explanation on how this problem is under the radar, and

its all fine, because they claim its a problem that will be bigger on 50-100 years from now, but

being prepared its essential. They go in to history of atomization and they finish the article by

saying we should draw awareness on this change and to be prepared and let this problem come

softly rather than violent.

This is important to my paper due to their way to look into the problem. They have

recent info and recent opinions, and their idea of not letting the problem to become a big one or

at least dont let it to be one its pretty interesting.

-Mahdawi, Arwa (2017, June 26). What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to

prepare your future. the guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-

news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health

Studies and facts are mixed to explain the movement of technology as a

automation apocalypse. Economists in the UK and USA, and University studies as

well, claim to find the jobs and tasks that are going to be replaced by technology

advancements. Tables with the specific jobs that will be the most affected in the most

affected to the least in a percentage order and other table with the safest Jobs in this
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revolution, are presented with a brief explanation to create awareness to future

generations. At the end they explain since the movement is already happening how can

you prepare yourself in such situation.

This information its important in my paper because it represents the media awareness of

the problem, informing people about the problem using facts and claiming its a problem we

should worry about its a big component in this paper, and this information is a reinforcement of

that.

- N/A (2016, June 25 ). Automation and Anxiety- the impact on jobs-The Economist
https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21700758-will-smarter-machines-cause-
mass-unemployment-automation-and-anxiety
The main point of this paper is to discuss whether smartest machines cause mass

unemployment or not. It starts with a story of a Doctor that is surprised by the

advancements of technology in his field and how it is much faster and efficient than

some people work is. After that some facts are thrown about how computerization is

being applied in different parts of the world by some of the mayor companies,

economist being concerned by technology in some fields.

this paper has a table that show us society fear in different occupations, such as

dentists, economists, retail salespeople and more. At the end the paper explains that

there are different ways to see this advancement change, there is an optimistic and a

pessimistic side of the problem, they claim that the reality and result of this

advancement is probably in between.

The importance of this paper in mine is that it provides me a different aspect to

see this concern and it allows me to understand this and their reaction. A less

pessimistic view is not bad, we can see the aspects of it and come to conclusions.
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- [PBS NewsHour] (2015, May 15). Will your job get outsourced to a robot? [videoFile].

Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naGYaiAlFA .

PBS News Hour explains how AI and Robotics are seen often now in our lifes,

introducing the main idea of new technologies being used for a better result than most of

the human population would it have, using examples that we all can understand such as a

poker game. The main idea to transmit in this video is how technology is advancing

creating new opportunities and taking some off the people in those areas, or even in any

work area. The outcome of the raise of technologies is unknown or at least we dont know

how big or bad it could become in a near future.

This video is important in my discussion because it fully supports the idea of AI

advancement as a threat to society. This video explains how bad it looks at the job field in

the future. All this info that PBS provided me will make my paper more credible.

- Stark, H. (2017, April 28). As Robots Rise, How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Jobs.

Retrieved November 06, 2017, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/haroldstark/2017/04/28/as-robots-rise-how-artificial-

intelligence-will-impact-jobs/#

This website article is about how technology is affecting humanity in this world, it has

facts and number of statistics on employment occupied by machines. Then explains that

based on history booms of technology had happened and society always find the way

around it and that basically people will lose their jobs, but other ones will appear, and it

will be fine, in the long run.

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Today we are enjoying the beauty of technology, culture have been teaching us how good

and noble it is, but when we think of technology we never think of it in a negative way. The

question here is why? why we see technology in such a way that we can trust it blindly, is it

because society see the entertaining and revolutionary side of the story, or we just dont want to

see how bad news technology advancements can be for us. We know that technology is changing

our lifestyles every day, its the way we live and interact with others. But if we think this twice

we can see that millions of people are being replaced by machines, software or artificial

intelligence. A clear example can be Amazon Inc, Amazon is a company that oversees packing

and shipping millions of products every day, and this operation is accomplished by staff, and

machines and computer intelligence are a majority in numbers compared to human presence,

from their sales, to the warehouse and their shipment, its most in hands of AI. So, what would it

be tomorrow like? and lets take Amazon to the side, what are the jobs that people are going to

have left on the near future? AI and Robotics impacts economical, social and psychological

aspects of society in a negative manner.

Numbers are the number one reason this revolution is happening, the question how

do we improve this system and process? is because people look for a more effective way to

accomplish something leading to a greater speed, cheaper solution and a greater income. Mostly

for a greater income, but not always, either ways people in business look for that option, if they

see the effectiveness is high and the price is low is a great inversion. In an article covered by the

guardian news, states that McKinsey & Company study found that about 30% of tasks in 60%

of occupations could be computerized, thats a really scary statement, also good news for some

people, we can simply replace jobs for a computer system, some people can check if everything

runs smoothly and we call it a day. Automation is not a recent discovery, its been happening for
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years, but never in the high rate it is today, also never with the technology we have today, how

we can do things today is impressive, how automation is today is amazingly scary. If we look at

(Figure 1) we can see that as US manufacturing inputs of machinery increases through recent

years, a high rate over the last 15 years results of the number of workers decrease, an impressive

number is displayed, as thousands of people disappear from the picture, millions of dollars goes

to that area, creating a surplus of money in the long run.

Socially, the impact of this technology in the workplace is affecting millions of people

by creating fear and awareness of what society can do to overcome this problem. There is no way

we can stop this technology to take positions and become the new workers and main processor of

tasks. That type of thinking is what creates that emotion throughout society, what we can do

about it? how do we prepare? what should I know to be a better prospect on some jobs? Are

simple questions that have millions of people in despair. As the previous study said, not all the

jobs are fully endangered by AI and robotics. Studies conducted by Carl Benedikt Frey and

Michael A. Osborne in THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT: HOW SUSCEPTIBLE ARE

JOBS TO COMPUTERISATION? led to a table of jobs and a percentage representing how

susceptible is to computerization in following years, in (Figure 2) we can see the first six jobs

with the highest percentage, and the last 5 with a low percentage. As we can conclude with this

table is that the percentage increases as the job difficulty does, but that sometimes can vary with

recent technology and knowledge, that percentage can increase as time passes, a 3.2% can be a

50% next month, we dont know, and by the fact that we dont know is why people start to panic

or think thoughtfully about whats going to happen to them and people around them in the future.

Regardless to past facts, today AI is affecting in the workplace, not in a direct way, or

substituting someone job, but AI plays the role of selecting people, qualifying and viewing
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performance, all that info makes AI the virtual boss. Recruiters spend 60% of their time

reading CVs, says Juergen Mueller, SAPs chief innovation officer. Why should a person read

300 resumes if a machine can propose the top 10?, effective way to finish recruitment in a

company or an office, a machine could oversee that easy, looking what the actual company or

employer its looking for and have the top contestants in a matter of seconds sounds good right?

Studies have great numbers that conclude that this method works most of the time, but there are

cases that looking only in certain areas and not taking the time of doing a profound look at some

resumes or professional aspects can guide of the employment of a wrong candidate or not the not

employment of the best pick. Productivity can either increase or decrease at ease. Workers can

be tracked at all times, what they are doing at their desks/ workspace, supervising that we not do

something we shouldnt, but is that a human thing to do, sometimes workers need some space

where they can be released from everyday stress they undergo, a system that its always checking

sometimes can guide people to look release using other choices and alternatives than the one

restricted or being checked.

We can say that this topic should be a concern for society because having people

informed about this could change the outcome of it, or they can be warned and not surprised or at

least ready for it to happen. Since today it seems that its a slow transition and people do not

worry about it because is not directly affecting them at the time. But it could make a great

difference if people are well informed about the issue AI and Robotics is causing. If more people

are informed and concerned, people with the power to make a change would be concerned too

and they can address it and get to a solution before a great problem its on the table.

In conclusion we can say that AI and robotics is a great advancement of technology that

seems great, useful and harmless to society and every day life today, but maybe tomorrow can
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become a problem that would affect a great percentage of the population and finally creating a

revolution. It affects economically by taking jobs, stopping the influx of money throughout

citizens, unemployment and more. As result of that it could create a social movement, people

afraid of losing their job s by the hand of a machine or computer. Finally lets create conscience

and awareness in society, a movement that will inform people and companies of how important

its to considerate people lives before every action or decision they take. Sending a message now

before its too late.

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References

- Ford, M.R (2015, May 5). Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.

New York: Basic Books.

Greenwald, T. (2017, May 05). How artificial intelligence will affect your job. Retrieved

November 06, 2017, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-artificial-

intelligence-will-affect-your-job-2017-03-31

LeVine, S. (2017, April 14). No one is prepared to stop the robot onslaught. So what will we do

when it arrives? Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://qz.com/940977/no-one-is-

prepared-to-stop-the-robot-onslaught-so-what-will-we-do-when-it-arrives/

Mahdawi, Arwa (2017, June 26). What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to prepare

your future. the guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-

news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health

N/A (2016, June 25 ). Automation and Anxiety- the impact on jobs-The Economist
https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21700758-will-smarter-machines-cause-
mass-unemployment-automation-and-anxiety
[PBS NewsHour] (2015, May 15). Will your job get outsourced to a robot? [videoFile].
Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naGYaiAlFA .
Stark, H. (2017, April 28). As Robots Rise, How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Jobs.
Retrieved November 06, 2017, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/haroldstark/2017/04/28/as-robots-rise-how-artificial-
intelligence-will-impact-jobs/#
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Tables and Figures Page

Figure 1

Figure 2