Questions about Human/Machine Relationships

An article by Julie Teigland in the Ernst & Young website makes a number of fascinating predictions about the interaction of humans and robots in the future (probably the nearer future than most of us think).

1.     CEOs will manage a workforce that consists of both people and machines. 

As AI driven robots increase in their capabIlities and learn to work alongside humans, they will increasingly become a part of the work teams in organizations. It will get increasingly difficult to distinguish between the contributions of humans and robots – and thus more difficult to treat them differently.

2.     More and more of us will be gig workers.

We’re already seeing the gig economy. As this trend grows, hiring, management, and other HR practices will need to change radically.

3.     We will wear microchips.

As people wear microchips or have them implanted, it will become harder to distinguish them from humans. And harder to treat them differently. For example, when evaluating the performance of a human with a chip installed, do you evaluate the human or the chip?

4.     Work will become synonymous with education.

Change will happen so quickly that traditional education will become more ineffective. So learning on the job will become the norm. As this evolves, working and education will become synonymous.

5.     The days in the office will disappear. 

Virtual reality will become more common to the extent that people will be able to attend meetings, work in the office and attend social events without going anywhere. They will just don their helmet and they will be there.