Dive Brief:
- Truck drivers and some healthcare workers' jobs are safe from automation, at least for now, says Fortune.
- The new State of Automation report found that automation is better at doing repetitive tasks than the fast-changing, mindful tasks healthcare workers and truck drivers must do.
- Deepashri Varadharajan, an analyst with CB Insights, told Fortune that although many companies are ordering driverless trucks, that technology is a ways off.
Dive Insight:
The replacement of Taiwanese workers by robots by Apple iPhone maker, Foxconn, in January was the realization of a scientific prediction and a long-time fear of masses of workers. Under Foxconn's automation plan, not all, but most workers will be replaced. The three-part phase-in will keep some workers for production, testing, logistics and inspection. That's the likely scenario for much of the automation expected to take occur in the near future.
Right now, experts say automation will streamline business operations and cut production costs to make employers more competitive. Retail alone could lose 7.5 million jobs to automation in the next few years. But as artificial intelligence (AI) yields more sophisticated outcomes, more jobs will disappear over time — and in turn, customer service or other high-touch jobs will become more important.
Some jobs already are obsolete or about to become obsolete, and are never coming back. On the positive side, automation and AI could end up creating new roles that HR will need to fill.
