A robotic workforce? No, humans are cheaper by Kathryn Cave

Kathryn Cave, Editor at IDG Connect catch-up with former Gartner VP, French Caldwell, to discover his views about the future robot workplace. 

Photo: IDG Connect

French Caldwell, Chief Evangelist, MetricStream

“Yes – the pace of robots and smart machines has picked up, but it is still not so rapid that it will leave humans behind,” says French Caldwell – former Vice President at Gartner and now Chief Evangelist of GRC at MetricStream.

He does agree that many people will “find that they have been automated out of a job”. However, these will be people in the middle not at the top or bottom. And he adds: “robots will also help us to find new jobs”.

People will be surprised - “[the use of robots] won’t be as disruptive as the hype today would suggest,” he continues. 

“The more a robot can do, the more it will cost – humans should be able to still be less expensive than robots.  Plus robots for the foreseeable future will have to specialise, and we humans don’t – we’re more flexible.”

French envisages three possibilities for the robot-human hybrid workplace:

Firstly: “humans work for the robots – robots tell humans when they need help and what to do”.  

Secondly: “humans service and maintain the robots – that’s pretty straightforward – we are already doing that with lots of machines”.

Or thirdly: “humans own the robots—if you are worried about the smart machines taking over, go buy some and start leasing them out – there’s  a business model there somewhere, and the clever humans will figure it out”.

But what about specifics? What is working at the moment and how will robots be used in future?
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Source: IDG Connect