HELP! AI WILL STEAL OUR JOBS AND DATA!

AI is redefining the definition of work and workplace

As Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Twitter employees can now work from home forever despite the opening of the offices in Mid March. The concept of working from home is not a new thing and I am not trying to advise any startup to take on that path. Some startups have argued that having a total remote working system is not a nice idea due to several factors including monitoring employees’ productivity and ensuring employee meets up to their deliverables. That may appear good for most companies to start adopting the popular hybrid system whilst others decide to ditch the work from home culture. Employees and employers that participated in the Remote Work & Compensation Pulse Survey in May 2021 expressed a desire to be entirely remote 48 per cent of the time. Hybrid working arrangements were preferred by 44% of employees. Employers support the hybrid work paradigm 51% of the time, while only 5% cite entirely remote work as an option.

Salary.com conducted a recent remote work poll and discovered that over 97 per cent of businesses said they will not lower pay for workers who work partially from home. However, 21% of employers would make salary adjustments based on an employee's contribution, geographic location, and worries about company culture.

Many have said that remote work is not the future of work that artificial intelligence and robotics is. Their argument continued by saying that AIs and robotics will take over a lot of work that can be automated and the only roles that will be left will be human relationships determined roles such as managerial roles and roles that require social interactions and possible roles that require the use of intuition that machine cannot yet decipher. If this is the future of work, are we ready for the future?

I know this fear of robotics taking over jobs have been for a while but was more pronounced during the pandemic when most companies cannot operate as their main operators are shut down at home. This has led to the release of robotics to operate machines and deliver better products within the fastest duration compare to what humans can do. Less industrial accident, efficient time management, no industrial union palava and labour union brouhaha. Imagine if we have edTech offering cheap and recognised university education to Nigerians, will the FG-ASUU industrial action lead to total paralysis of university education in the country? 90% of leading businesses have already made significant investments in AI. More than half of organizations that have used AI-driven technology say they have seen an increase in productivity.The cost may be high but many are ready to bear it so far as the advantages weigh more than the disadvantages. This adoption will mean one important thing the redefinition of what work means for the available work that we have. For a fact, the coming of the internet has changed a lot of job descriptions and introduced a whole new set of jobs like digital marketing, digital community manager, brand development officer etc. Many have argued that this will be what will happen and it won't mean that robots will send people out of jobs. They will only change our definition of work and lead us to have a rethink what we call work and other workplace modus operandi.

The great resignation has revealed to us that many will rather prefer to leave their rigid job for a more flexible one. Some argued that the demand for a full remote is one of the factors for many of the great resignations. This may make many companies start automating some tasks they never thought of. So if we are having issues with bringing people onsite, employing the fit person for the job and even dealing with several legal issues are part of the reasons many are giving as they turn to artificial intelligence and robots to take over several jobs in their company and industry. We just need to get a few persons to control non-machine tasks and machines will use artificial intelligence to run other tasks. At least machines will not have mental stress, emotional issues, nor will they demand leave, etc. They will always be available to work smarter and faster than humans.

AI can kill and steal data

As AIs and IoTs take over there will be other issues that we may need to address, and one major issue will be regulating them and ensuring that they process data accordingly. The number of data IoTs is gathering daily is alarming. Forbes has noted that the challenge with feeding AI data is that it is biased and can represent societal imbalances as well as the unconscious biases of the designers who develop and input the data. If there is bias in the data that is fed into an AI, such bias is likely to be carried over into the AI's output. This may put people’s lives at risk if they get into the hands of the enemies. Securing access to the computer codes that control such systems is also very important. We don’t want to have hackers access our workforce. Unlike, a physical workplace where one person can betray the company to enemies and leak company trade secrets but others may still be loyal, it is worse with technology especially when they are interconnected. A hack into an AI may be the required access to a million others in a company. If we witness a hack into a killer robot by terrorists, the same may be weaponized to commit destructive work. Imagine if you have a thousand in a community, the doom is inevitable. Oh no, I am talking like this is a Sci-Fi! No, this can happen, machines are obedient to codes and a code change may mean a lot. Now, do we have regulation of acquisitions of these robotics? Or we are just to keep acquiring robots to improve our work without anyone calling us to order? In the United States, The Algorithmic Accountability Act was introduced in Congress with the purpose of mandating the Federal Trade Commission to review the usage of any new AI technology for the potential to perpetuate bias. I know some countries have a quota on how many quotas of work should be restricted to citizens of the country. Do we have a quota of robotics that an individual or company can acquire?

Even military jobs are being reduced due to the creation of autonomous weapon systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, killer robots etc. During the previous week, a friend sent me a youtube link where an expert was analysing our regulatory of robotics and artificial intelligence and how such should be “proactive in regulation instead of reactive because by the time we are reactive in AI regulations we will be too late”.? AIs don’t have emotions and feelings they only obey instructions. The danger will be they reacting to an enemy's instruction against you. If military robots are done fighting and get into the hands of terrorists, the story will be a terrible one and we may not live to tell it. Non-state actors can access such weapons in the weapon market or even lay hands on the software and codes to develop their weapons of mass destruction that may lead to massive destruction of lives and properties. In one of the previous editions of this newsletter, I talked about the regulation of military technology.

AIs and the different kinds of robots that we develop to help us in our day to day lives may jump against us. How do we build cybersecurity systems that will ensure our security? If we have IoTs at home, we must put in place some cybersecurity measures. A Forbes article provided eleven cybersecurity tips to help consumers protect themselves from hackers which includes;

1. Research Before Buying

2.? Customize Security Settings

3. Update Firmware

4. Set Up A Separate Wi-Fi Network

5. Control Your Private Cellular Data

6. Learn About Security Certifications

7. Reset Passwords Regularly

8. Adopt ‘Micro-Segmentation’

9. Set Up Two-Factor Authentication

10. Read The Terms Carefully

11. Opt Out Of Data Sharing

AI developers, robots company and companies controlling IoTs must ensure that they implement both cybersecurity measures and privacy culture that will preserve the data and lives of the customers that use their products and services. A consistent review of such measures must be put in place.

As we are building a formidable workforce, we must be ready to prevent armageddon. We should be proactive in the regulation of AIs, IoTs, and Robotics in our countries. These technologies will undoubtedly help humanity in our day to day life but it will be terrible to allow technology determine how we live or worse still whether we live.

"The security of the world and future of humanity hinges on achieving a ban on killer robots" - Mary Warhem, Arms Division Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch.