“Lions and tigers and bears, Oh, my” as Judy Garland sang. But “AI, Robots and Drones?” are not so scary after all.

I am working through 400 business categories across 19 industry sectors to look at and update the impact of AI, robots and drones on business use of ICT in Australia. This is based on the 50,000 surveys we completed on how SMEs use technology, with 54+ questions on mobility, hardware, software, security, backup, social, website, telecoms, service and support.?

Nearly all businesses use software including a financial management program, general business program for work processing, spreadsheet, email, power point, CRM and often a category specific business management software program – farm management, practice management, production management, transport management system, real estate management, ERP and so on.

Businesses have become familiar with their systems and most software providers have been updating their software on a regular basis with new modules and extensions often incorporating machine learning and AI in the update.?

It would be silly for a software provider to miss the chance to reinforce the relationships they have established with their clients. The better the software performs, the more likely a client is to remain a loyal customer.

Over time most businesses have worked out what works for them. And most business activities and processes are well managed by existing software tools.

So GPT AI is providing an enhancement for some business activities but is not replacing any of the many software products that business use on a day-to-day basis.

Some business categories are more impacted than others, especially some of the professional services categories including legal, accounting, engineering, architecture, higher education, employment services and software design. But that impact applies to less than 5% of all business categories, so this is hardly a revolutionary change or challenge to our economy.

In some bigger picture areas such as defence, security and medical research, AI is having a major and serious impact, but that impact is not universal.

The same thing applies to robotics. Automation of machinery is proving valuable in agriculture, manufacturing, sport, construction, mining and transport, but most business categories and industry sectors have little need for this capability. Same with drones. Very useful in some business categories, but irrelevant in others.

We have to be realistic and recognise that robotics and AI are useful additions to the many software tools we already use in our lives, but they are not going to replace all jobs across all industries. In most cases they won’t replace jobs at all, but just enhance them.

Software in its many forms has always helped people to do what they do more efficiently and more effectively, and in some cases helped save time and money. But not all.

There is a lot of hype. There is a lot of extrapolating one case to all cases, without consideration of the unique mix of activities and processes that each business category operates under.

Real estate is not engineering is not cane-farming is not road transport is not architecture is not hotel management is not pest control is not carpentry is not teaching is not hairdressing is not flower-selling is not stevedoring is not acting and so on.

All different. All distinct. Some business activities in common, but most not.

Is a robot going to steal your job? Probably not. Is AI going to replace you? Probably not.

But it is still a good thing to become familiar with how software is impacting the job and skills area you work in. And consider your study and work choices carefully. The myREGION.au platform can help in that regard.

Make the software work for you. It is a tool.

You should be the “master” of the software tool, not the “tool” of the software.

AI is software. Most existing software solutions that businesses use in support of activity - finance, database, CRM, ERP, business management software in general have had ML/AI modules added steadily over the last 10 years - adding value to existing customer relationships. Positive value adding. No negative impact on jobs there.

GPT/AI does not have universal value and/or does not have a universal negative impact on jobs.

It is an adjunct. Overblown. Mega-hyped. The hype will cool down in time in the same way other hype cycles have cooled.

In a very few business categories – AI, Robotics and Drones are a challenge, but for most categories, they are largely irrelevant. And the categories most impacted are the ones making the most negative noise on social media.

Yet, over the last twenty years in Australia, the number of SMEs increases every year. 2.6 million plus now. If the negative impact on jobs and business were so challenging then the number of businesses would be shrinking dramatically not increasing.

But as always, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt sell newspapers and grab eyeballs on social media.

So, this good news will probably fly under the radar. AI, robotics and drones seem to be good for us. Look at the evidence not the multiple opinions.

However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t worry about anything and everything. There are some things that we need to consider more realistically.

Knowledge diffusion? 72nd ?Economic Complexity? 102nd?

That’s another thing. And we can do something about both of them.

?