"Man or Machine"

I read this very insightful article on a recent McKinsey report entitled: "Where machines could replace humans — and where they can't (yet)"

What are my key takeaways ?

• Automation Will Change Jobs More Than Kill Them

Today’s fears around automotion should be more nuanced. As described in the research from McKinsey, while automation will eliminate very few occupations entirely in the next decade, it will affect portions of almost all jobs to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the type of work they entail. 

The study shows that less than 5 percent of jobs can be fully automated. But at least 30 percent of the activities can be automated in 60 percent of jobs.

• Automation largely relegated to repeatable tasks

McKinsey examined the technical feasibility, using currently demonstrated technologies, of automating three groups of occupational activities: those that are highly susceptible, less susceptible, and least susceptible to automation. The main driver for this is the extent to which a specific activity is repetitive and predictable.

• The importance of human interaction is evident

Conversely, the hardest activities to automate with currently available technologies are those that involve managing and developing people or that apply expertise to decision making, planning, or creative work. Humans still need to determine the proper goals, interpret results, or provide commonsense checks for solutions.

• Just because an activity can be automated doesn't mean that it will be

In practice automotion will depend on more than just technical feasibility. Five factors are involved :

-      cost to automate i.e. developing and deploying both the hardware and the software for automation

-      the relative scarcity, skills and cost of worker who might ortherwise do the activity

-      benefits (eg, higher levels of output, better quality, and fewer errors..) of automotion beyond labor-cost substitution

-      regulatory and social acceptance

To wrap up, I would say that you won't be replaced by a robot, you'll just have to share your job with one!