COVER STORY | CONNECTED WORKING
procedural, time-consuming
of ce emails, acting essentially as
a personal assistant and thereby
allowing workers to spend more time
on value-adding tasks.”
In these ways, collaboration
between man and machine is needed
because it makes the work humans do
more fruitful and less monotonous.
WILL WE BE REPLACED?
While collaboration between people
and technology appears both likely
and highly bene cial, many continue
to make gloomy predictions about
unemployment and humanity
being replaced. These are
usually accompanied by
questions over where future
generations will nd their
purpose, if not in work.
However, Kairinos
collaboration between
people and technology
appears both likely
and highly bene cial,
many continue to make
gloomy predictions about
unemployment and
adds, those issues are at
the bottom of a slippery
slope, and the reality is
likely to be more positive.
He says: “History has shown
that great technological
advancements don’t necessarily
push people out of work. Over
the course of the 20th century, for
example, we collectively progressed
from the telegram to the personal
computer, and unemployment in the
West hovered roughly around the 5%-
10% mark throughout.”
Indeed, huge progress in AI looks
likely to drive job creation instead.
Kairinos continues: “According to the
World Economic Forum, there will
be a net creation of 58 million jobs
due to technological advancements
over the medium term — despite
millions of jobs becoming automated.
Pedro Domingos, head of machine
learning at the D.E. Shaw Group
suggests that the proliferation of AI
and new technology will create roles
that are currently unintelligible — in
the same way that the concept of
a ‘graphic designer’ or ‘software
developer’ would be unimaginable to
a Victorian.”
Further, Kairinos says, there
are many arguments suggesting
that humans have some inherent
characteristics that machines will
never be able to replace. “William
J. Little eld II, a tech specialist and
philosopher, offers the example
that people are able to reason
‘abductively’. Whilst machines can
do so ‘inductively’ and
‘deductively’, this faculty
is creative and allows us to
think beyond the con nes of
pre-established parameters.
Some would argue that this
ability to think outside the box sets
us apart from machines.
“We also cannot do away with the
need for human insight, particularly
when it comes to sensitive matters.
The example of Google Translate
offers a good example — researchers
at the University of Princeton
found that it had picked up sexist
discrimination from language
learning and had begun translating
Turkish in an offensive manner.
Without human oversight and input
from engineers, developers and
designers, these problematic mistakes
could go unchecked.”
In sum, we need greater
collaboration between man and
machine because of the many bene ts
it will bring. Importantly, many of
the concerns people have about the
negative results of this collaboration
appear unlikely to come to pass. I
now look with interest to see how
the engineering sector will respond
to these trends and how individual
rms maximise on the growing
opportunities in AI.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Automation doesn’t just mean certain
jobs being taken away from workers
or even the creation of new jobs, Steve
Brambley, CEO at Gambica – which
represents the instrumentation, control,
automation and laboratory technology
industries in the UK – says it’s also
about improving societal issues.
“We often forget that automation
isn’t just about productivity or quality,”
he says. “There’s masses of evidence
out there that talks about the fact that
technology is a creator of jobs and will
make a great change to society.”
He claims that Greta Thunberg, the
extinction rebellion movement and
the proliferation of electric vehicles
have raised the pro le and our
understanding of the climate crisis.
“Other drivers at the institutional
level include the United Nations’
Sustainable Development Goals,”
Brambley adds. “There’s a whole
load of drivers about poverty, hunger,
welfare, etc, but also things like
decent work and economic growth.
So, it’s not an entirely green agenda,
it’s also about good society and
sustainable development goals.”
These goals are being applied
to product standards, for example,
manufacturers want to demonstrate to
their customers and staff that they’re
trying to do the right thing.
“How does that translate into where
automation and digitalisation go?
Well, health, safety and wellbeing are
probably some of the more familiar
things driving automation. Particularly,
regulation and safety have been very
big drivers, and preventing accidents
has long been one of the reasons
While
humanity being
replaced
NIKOLAS
KAIRINOS
CEO and founder
of Fountech.ai,
a company
specialising in the
development and
delivery of artifi cial
intelligence
solutions for
businesses and
organisations.
12 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | APRIL 2020
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