Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Post COVID-19 Era

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and they are set to play a significant part of our future workplace even after covid era, many big companies and Highflyer organizations have made used of these both automation to performance some crucial responsibilities during this widespread of covid 19 virus. as many of these companies and organizations can't afford to close their business because of the lockdown announce in many countries.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are already/will be replacing the work traditionally performed by humans. This was unimaginable only a few years ago.
Robots are already entering the workplace, as explored in the following five examples.

1. Museum guides

Lincoln museum in the UK has a hi-tech robot which is equipped with sensors and cameras to guide visitors through the exhibitions. It was programmed by robotics experts from the University of Lincoln and finds the best routes around the museum, pausing at exhibits to offer facts and answer basic questions from visitors.

2. Fire assessment

Smoke and flames can make it impossible for even the most experienced of firefighters to navigate a building that is on fire. However, the SmokeBot can monitor the progression of fires and the damage being caused.

3. Fulfilment centre workers

Amazon’s fulfilment centres use robots to bring the shelves and stock to the workers for picking. They’re programmed to perform the most mundane and repetitive tasks, while the actual packing is still performed by humans.

4. Nuclear site clean-up

Robots are being used to remove dangerous radioactive waste at Sellafield nuclear power station. The waste is sucked up using arms mounted on overhead cranes. Another tool can attach to a crane and separate large pieces of debris into smaller chunks. The human operators stay safe, as they are shielded behind a wall while manoeuvring the robots.

5. Chatbots

Chatbots are pieces of software designed for humans to have conversations with, either verbally or via text (written) input. The first chatbot was invented in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum and was called Eliza. It used only 200 lines of code and delivered text responses based on the language of a therapist. People using Eliza knew they were interacting with a computer program. However, the humans using it during trials grew emotionally attached to it because of the set emotional responses Eliza was programmed to deliver.

Chatbots are now becoming far more sophisticated. They are creating an interface that soon won’t require a screen or a mouse to use, but will be completely conversational, meaning that they will respond to voice commands given by the user. Those conversations will be indistinguishable from those that we have with our friends and family.

In 2013, it was estimated in a research paper by the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford that 47% of jobs in the USA would be at risk of being lost to artificial intelligence (AI)1. This is just one of many differing predictions of what will happen. However, everyone agrees that significant changes within the workplaces of the future are inevitable.

There is a fear that automation (the loss of human jobs to the work of robots) is something that will happen to the world after covid 19. However, it’s more likely that it will happen with us. Robots might even make work better for humans by reducing the more menial and mundane tasks, allowing us to focus on more specialist skills. We may even need to work less.

Information from futurelearn course...