With the current advancements in AI and machine learning, workplace robots are considered a smart way to boost office productivity. However, studies suggest that the machines may have the opposite effect on human workers.
According to a team of researchers from Cornell University, humans consider themselves less competent when beaten by robots in contests for cash prizes.
As a result, they tend to expend less effort on the task and ultimately end up disliking the robots.
How A Competition Between Humans and Workplace Robots Reduces Productivity
In what may be a world’s first, roboticists and behavioral economists from the university teamed up to explore an interesting topic. The researchers wanted to understand the effects of the robot’s performance on human behavior and how both parties react when competing against each other simultaneously.
So, the researchers pitted humans against a robot in a contest. The competitors were required to count the number of times the letter G appeared in a string of characters, then place a block in the bin for every occurrence.
The researchers then created a lottery – using the difference between the human’s and robot’s scores – to determine each participant’s chance of winning. If both human and robot had the same score, the human’s chance of winning would be 50 percent. And the odds rose or dropped based on how each participant performed.
At the end of each round, the participants filled out a questionnaire to rate their competence and the robot’s as well. They also had to say how much they liked the machine. Although the participants ranked the robot’s competence higher than theirs, they rated the likability lower.
The Implication of the Findings
The findings confirmed what behavioral economists already hinted in theories of loss aversion – that people won’t try as hard when their competitors are doing better.
Co-author of the study and assistant professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Guy Hoffman wrote:
“Humans and machines already share many workplaces, sometimes working on similar or even identical tasks.”
Consider a scenario where a cashier is working alongside an automatic check-out machine. Although it’s natural to design such workplace robots for optimal productivity, Hoffman points out that it may not be a good idea.
“Engineers and managers must consider how the robots’ performance may affect the human workers’ effort and attitudes toward the robot and even toward themselves,”
Imagine how disrespectful people will be towards other people for even small things because after all….robots are the ones we see serving us. Also they say that we will be paid a universal income if robots dominate the workforce….Hogwash! Our government paid over 2 trillion to the Afghans at the same time the homeless in this country got ignored mostly and encamps grew! If you were a business owner who had mostly robots that worked for you and better than humans how would you feel about a stranger crying they need money.
Also if the robots look human and have AI (which are both real goals right now) it will blur the line in the future generations on what a human is. Our nature is usually greed so you can almost guarantee a degradation of life as new generations arrive…..if you think the young generations are rude and disrespectful just wait for the one robots are catering to.
A huge group of work in the field of human-robot association has taken a gander at how people and robots may better team-up. A typical way to deal with program expressive gestures into robots is to initially examine human-human practices and after that move the learning.
Robotics is very interesting but no doubt, an existential threat.
Yes. They would make life easier for the customers. But the workers workforce would decrease and you can be sure those workers won’t feel like they where “assisted” Paul.
Hi James! Unfortunately, humanity is just not as efficient as our own creation but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will replace human anytime soon. Human is more complex than robots.
You should tell that to a typical African man who just lost his job.
I’m quite sure he and his colleagues won’t see it that way and might even try to destroy the machines that took away their source of living.
I think if such robots that would cause mass retrenchment are made, alternatives should be made for the humans they displaced.
But i guess this won’t be an issue in the US and a majority if not all African states aren’t close to using robot technology yet.
human rights are a very sensitive topic but innovation drives the business sector to turn to the advancement or else they will be left behind.
Try to filter through the typos, i sent from a mobile device.
Definitely. However, robots are invented to assist human lives and not to make human obsolete.
I got your point, Paul but the possibility of robots replacing human is very high. In terms of efficiency and it seems intimidating for a human to work with robots in the same workplace.
That’s right but we cannot avoid innovation. 🙂
We are unknowingly taken over!