Robotic Process Automation & AI

In case you have not had a chance to see my short scenario describing The Robot Minimum Wage Plan (RMWP) please take a minute to read it to get up to speed on the concepts we are discussing here.

If your only vision of robots taking jobs conjures up a silver humanoid beast working in a factory then we need to look further into our definition of robots and expand it to include artificial intelligence (AI) and a swiftly growing industry called Robotic Process Automation (RPA). If we think of computers as robotic brains then the processes they perform are related to our dilemma. Computers have been replacing humans for years and yet they have enhanced our existence and made many things commonplace that would have otherwise remained impossible. 

Part of the reason that computers have not hurt the job market so far is that we have still needed to feed data into the computers to make them useful to us. Initially punch cards were used to communicate our needs to those transistors ... then keyboards and now more than ever sensors input the data directly. With AI and a bunch of sensors and logic the robot brains can now experience the environment and learn cause and effect from that. Connect all those brains to the cloud (a huge central brain) and the body of experiences grows exponentially. Now add a bunch of very smart programmers whose goal is to teach that huge brain to use its knowledge (data) to think for itself (AI) and find and solve business problems that we did not even know we had. Voila ... RPA!

And guess what one of the main goals of RPA is? Look deeply into our business models and figure out how to improve efficiency and make more money. Why is this industry growing so fast? Because it can save big money without adding expense. A company can make more widgets, sell them at the same price without adding cost = more profit. 

Now guess how RPA improves efficiency ... replace the weakest links, namely those humans that need care and attention and can only work 8 hours a day. The game changer here may be the kind of workers that are displaced by RPA. Not the factory workers we are used to hearing about but how about lawyers, accountants, managers and the like. Business processes can include just about everybody so no one is immune.

Here are a few articles I have recently read about RPA:

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - The Future of Outsourcing

Key Best Practices for Successful Implementation of Automation

Brave New World of RPA

The good side of RPA is again that it releases humans from repeatative work and enhances the output of businesses that make our lives better in many ways. It will lead to leaner and more productive companies that will in turn build us more products and services at lower cost. RPA and AI will also improve the essential services such as health care and public safety.

Imagine a scenario where you walk into a clinic and are recognized by a scanner which alerts your doctor and the big brain that holds all of your information plus everybody else who has ever been served by it. The big brain is in the room with you and your doc. He plugs you into a batch of sensors while you describe your symptoms. Big brain runs your sensor data plus verbal and image info through his AI system which compares you to thousands of other similar cases and comes up with the most probable diagnosis and treatment ... within a few minutes or even seconds. Nice. Oops, what did we need that doc for again?  Hmmmm. Could it be that we find simple human interaction becomes a commodity that we need and will pay for just to be there for us?

So how do we get there and still maintain the dignity and upward evolution of the human beings being served by the robots and robot brains.

Going back to my RMWP scenario, here is how I see it. If we start soon and introduce the concept of paying robots a wage, then we can gradually evolve the system. We would start with robots and jobs that are easily identifiable and work out a program that suits both the workers and the companies. Base the solutions on capitalism so there is a built in motivation on both sides of the coin. 

The company that makes robots generates as much or more revenue by leasing them to the company that uses them. The user company spends less to rent and pay the robots and produces more than it did with humans thus increasing profits. The displaced humans work less time at more satisfying jobs while earning the same overall income supplemented with the RMWP. The government receives the same tax revenue. 

Again, if we start with simple solutions, over time we could develop systems to handle other workers as problems arise. In fact using RPA and AI systems from the start would help do design the best possible solution models.

But, we can't just keep ignoring the problem and hope that it will go away or that retraining will simply solve it. We're not too big to fail but I hope that we are too smart to keep walking  down the road to failure.

The next and most important questions are about the logistics of this concept. How much government action is needed? Who designs the programs? How and where does the first application get tested and evaluated? 

Got ideas ... please send them to me via comments so I can share them and build on them next time.

Please take a moment and comment with your impressions (just click on the comment link below). This is meant to be a brainstorming session so your opinions are what will keep it going.