Machines and robots are slowly but surely making inroads into what was the domain of humans till a short while ago. Robots are doing work that was earlier reserved for human beings. This is an increasing trend with the massive technological developments in the area of robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

As a result humans are becoming redundant and robots are gaining importance. Experts say that in a few more years, more than half the jobs in the world will be done by machines / robots. However, there are areas that robots cannot take over as yet – this is in every kind of job that is creative in nature viz. acting, music, dance, painting, graphic designing, architecture etc – all these jobs where you need creative ability cannot be done by robots and hence are not likely to be replaced immediately.

Robots don’t make mistakes

Regular, repetitive, high volume jobs are among the first to be replaced by machines – for example, administrative clerks, call centre operators, cashiers, assembly line production / packaging, receptionists, guards, etc. Humans may make mistakes in such jobs, robots do not do so. “Robots are able to work on repetitive tasks tirelessly and continuously and in many businesses they are welcomed as valuable team members because they do the work that humans don’t want to do,” says, Professor Willcocks, Professor of Technology, Work and Globalisation within LSE’s Department of Management. They work significantly faster, make zero mistakes and all this at a considerably lower cost. As a result organizations welcome the introduction of such technology since it reduces costs and increases profit margins.

Onslaught of machines

As technology advances it is expected that other jobs will also fall prey to the onslaught of machines. Self-driven cars will reduce the dependence on taxis, computers and advanced software are already being used for big data analytics which deals with voluminous amounts of data, robots are gradually being used to perform simple medical and surgical procedures in a limited way, online teaching is ding away with the need for teachers and educational institutes.

Human and emotional contact

What is encouraging is that robots cannot as yet take over jobs that require more than efficiency and speed. Robots can write programs, analyse data, report news etc but they cannot provide insights or interpretation. In medicine they will not be able to handle complex procedures that require deeper understanding of the problem nor can they be expected to do anything that requires creativity and intuition and emotional involvement. Teachers, mentors, personnel involved in HRD, especially those who are in charge of motivating and counseling employees are those who are unlikely to be replaced by machines because all these jobs require human contact and emotional connect which can never be provided by a machine.

The objective as of now should be to add to the jobs that humans are already doing by bringing in robots and increased automation. What can achieve an optimal state is if machines take on the task of managing the routine work while humans stay in control of areas that are “unpredictable” – that is jobs that involve creativity, innovation, problem solving, interpretation and flexibility.