Does the future have a lot of robots and fewer jobs for human beings? Well, to be honest, this is not a new concern. Since the onset of the industrial age, technological changes have caused fears of spawning mass unemployment. Although it may seem easy to dismiss these concerns as merely speculative in reality, machines are getting smarter with each passing day and they continue to replace a variety of people-based jobs.
They are expanding skills, showing remarkable retention rates and productivity, and constantly moving up the corporate ladder to sweep aside their human counterparts. A multi-tasking robot – manufactured by Momentum Machines – is capable of cooking gourmet hamburgers within 10 seconds, and could substitute an entire Burger King crew. A collaborative tabletop robot arm from Universal Robots automates almost any workbench scenario.
With advancements in technology such as these, it is becoming evident that algorithms, robots, computers and machines are going to be able to do many repetitive types of jobs. However, it is not just the lower-skilled jobs that could be replaced. People having college or advanced degrees, such as lawyers and accountants for example, do things that are ultimately predictable, and therefore many of those jobs are likely to be susceptible over the course of time.
Looking at Recent Technological Advancements
So, is the concern of robots replacing the white-collar workforce justified? While there is still a lot of debate over this topic, and economists argue that problems actually arise from things like globalization, wiping out unions or not raising the minimum wage (which too are important issues), recent technological advancements prove otherwise.
Today, technology is at its peak and under constant development. New inventions have become frequent, and we human beings are becoming more and more dependent on these technologies to the extent where it has not only taken over our lives, but also has led us to become inferior to it. Let us take a look at some recent technological advancements, and how they can replace humans:
DDIQ is a first-of-its-kind automated due diligence solution for anti-corruption compliance, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, fraud investigations and vendor screening. Using artificial intelligence, DDIQ generates risk profiles on companies and individuals – which are otherwise costly and time-consuming to discover manually – through stimulating the cognitive processes and procedures employed by a human researcher.
The risk profiles provide in-depth and comprehensive global due diligence information in a matter of minutes, allowing entities to get an effective and quick view of their risk profile for enhanced due diligence. In addition, since links to the data sources are provided, these reports are fully auditable to allow compliance with the ever-changing risk management requirements.
Recently, OutsideIQ, the developer of this risk-focused software, partnered with Opus to leverage its reference data management and KYC platform, Alacra and provide a thorough and quick risk assessment to practically any organization. The integration of both platforms will create a solution that will ensure the depth of research is both highly efficient and thorough, and therefore could replace researchers that partake lengthy and arduous methods for due diligence.
Kira is an advanced, machine-learning solution that is capable of searching and examining the text in contracts, giving the involved parties a more complete (and quicker) review and analysis than traditional methods. The contract search capabilities of Kira can handle both standard and non-standard provisions and forms – including documents in over 60 formats – by automating the process of extracting and analyzing key contract provisions and generating summaries and analysis in just a few minutes.
This artificial intelligence tool, which has been developed for document review during the due diligence process for mergers & acquisitions, will make due diligence more efficient and faster, while mitigating risk throughout the process. With new technologies emerging at a rapid rate, it’s vital that they are constantly evaluated and implemented by firms to transform their existing service delivery models, and Kira Systems’ recent partnership with DLA Piper does just that.
Kira enhances the due diligence process for DLA Piper’s client transactions, thereby resulting in greater efficiencies and process improvement. This means that will now be capable of delivering to much faster timelines with more efficiency and accuracy, and this is evident from the fact that DLA Piper has measured considerable improvements in accuracy and speed for M&A due diligence since the rolling out of the program to its offices around the world.
Where the introduction of technologies are eliminating many jobs in economies around the world that were once handled by people, research shows that an equal number of well-paying jobs aren’t being created in order to compensate for those losses. According to a 2014 Oxford study, the number of American workers shifting to new jobs and industries has been prominently small. Therefore, while the discussion of robots replacing humans usually tends to be a discussion about some uncertain point in the future, let us face it, the future is happening now.