When we say AI, we should include robots, self-driving cars, etc. Of course if AI replaces “all” jobs humanity is extinct. But a significant number of jobs are going to be replaced. Lot of low “mental and physical” skill jobs are at risk.
How it will impact society is unclear. The technologies are evolving at break neck speed and not giving society necessary time to adjust. Governments all over the world are running massive deficit and not clear how much they can support these vulnerable, impacted population in future.
The only game governments know is debasing their currency. Robbing retirees, savers.
I’ll take that bet. Five years from day, no more human wait staff at Olive Garden (assuming it is in business)? How much you willing to wager? Four figures? Five?
There are already restaurants doing so in Kenya, Japan, in several US locations and elsewhere around the world. Of course it’s a novelty and so perhaps good for business, but the upfront cost is said to be exceptionally high (they are available on a lease basis) but for the moment it’s not a serious issue.
We have two places using one (each) here in little ole’ Knoxville. Not really built for prime time, but perhaps fun for the kids or a goof.
Eh…for a certain value of “replacing human waiters,” sure. But not replacing human waiters in an Olive Garden.
I’ve been served by a robot before. Here in Miami, there’s a restaurant that sends out drinks carted around by a small wheel robot, similar to the ones in the above video. But like the ones in the above video, it can’t do any more of a waiter’s function than that. Carry from kitchen to table. It can’t place the items on the table, it can’t clear the items from the table, it can’t refill a water glass or pour wine, it can’t understand a spoken command to bring another fork, it can’t check a patron’s ID to determine if they can be served liquor….etc.
IOW, it can do a very small part of what a waiter normally does. Fun for a novelty, but nothing that can actually replace a waiter.
“What FOOLS these mortals be!” is all I have to say to anyone who wished to be waited on (to eat things served by!!) a robotic mechanism with an AI mind. Food needs to come with some grace, some comfort, some encountering knowledge, or it is poisonous.
This is far far more potent a fact than anything said in the insane long thread on vitamin supplements.
Well, I think that’s a bit overstated. I’ve eaten at buffets, conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, and tons of fast-casual places where you just grab your food from the countertop when your number is called. Those foods don’t come with a side of grace and comforting knowledge….and it’s fine. I mean, we can’t be that precious about Olive Garden-level food.
I think the inability of robots to do the basic tasks of food service are a far greater barrier than the intangible loss of human waitstaff interaction as part of the dining experience.
albaby, I have no disagreement with your well put statement, but my focus is not on just the functional act of being served, it is on the bigger picture of choosing food cooking serving eating are not mere “functions” of an economy and “nutrition” but always embedded in and expressive of human community and being.
For example.
France’s relatively low obesity rate and higher propensity for cooking and eating well are not accidents of history. They were carefully fostered by policy and regulation. When Americans visit Paris and marvel at how svelte people are, it’s not because the Parisians have superior willpower. They are objects of their environment, just as Americans are objects of theirs.
How long before robots replace illegal aliens in farm fields?
With the ramp up of ICE there is likely will be a shortage of worker for the next harvest season.
Probably a long time. Robots and human-operated machines have long since replaced farmworkers in most of the farm activities that can easily be mechanized. Probably 95% of all ag jobs have already been replaced by machines.
The ones that remain are the ones where it’s very difficult to harvest/farm using mechanized systems, due to the nature of the crops or the work involved. All that remain are the very, very hard problems that have eluded mechanization. Shifting the cost equation might affect that somewhat, but only at the margins.
I do not think this will occur. People need to make decisions everyday. They do not need AI. I see AI as good at taking massive data and sorting out whatever someone needs from the data. It does not do any physical or analytical work like design and building of structures, machines, mechanical/electrical components for medical, chemical, power, transportation, military, agriculture, mining, and many more areas of societies needs.
Computers were intended to reduce the amount of paper we use for records and information. But actually it enable people to print out more records and information than they did before computers.
