Running Head: WILL ROBOTS TAKE OVER?

Will Robots Take Over Jobs by 2025?

Marquis Drumright
ENG 1301-04
Mrs. Priest
October 29, 2014

Running Head: WILL ROBOTS TAKE OVER?

Robots could take over many jobs by 2025, leaving large numbers of humans in search of
new jobs, according to a new study. Jobs which could soon be taken over by robots include care
of the elderly or disabled, as well as mundane tasks, such as walking dogs or driving. Robots
able to perform menial tasks may soon be able to take over many chores around the house,
freeing a lot of time for many people. However, repetitive jobs are common, and provide
employment to millions of people. While some job opportunities could be squeezed out by
robots, the technology could open up new fields, as

the

rise of the internet has done over the last 20 years.

Elon University's Imagining the Internet group
conducted the survey, in conjunction with the Pew
Research Center. Investigators polled over 1,800
scholars and robot industry analysts to gauge their
opinion of the effect of robots on the jobs market. The
group was nearly evenly divided between those who believe that robots will create more jobs
than they take away, and those who hold the opposite view. New technologies have, historically,
replaced some occupations while creating a larger job market, according to the report. However,
robotics may be unique in pressing out skilled workers from their positions, the group warns.
"Automation has thus far impacted mostly blue-collar employment; the coming wave of
innovation threatens to upend white-collar work as well. Certain highly-skilled workers will
succeed wildly in this new environment - but far more may be displaced into lower-paying
service industry jobs at best, or permanent unemployment at worst," the report states. Carried to
the extreme, the report advises that the loss of unskilled jobs, as well as many white-collar

Running Head: WILL ROBOTS TAKE OVER?

positions, could result in a massive increase in the income gap between classes.
A large increase in the number of people unable to obtain employment could lead to
widespread civil unrest - an idea 48 percent of those surveyed said could be possible. A small
majority of those surveyed, 52 percent, say a prevalence of robots in the next decade will lead to
lower unemployment, as people take positions designing, caring for and even recycling the
mechanical and electronic devices. "The effects will be different in different economies (which
themselves may look different from today's political boundaries). Driven by revolutions in
education and in technology, the very nature of work will
have changed radically - but only in economies that have
chosen to invest in education, technology, and related
infrastructure," (JP Rangaswami 2013), chief scientist for
Salesforce.com, stated in a press release. Ironically, the
coming robotic age could also give rise to a new form of handmade craftsmanship, as people
strive to earn a living with uniquely human products and services like art and landscape design.
The robots are coming. They're coming to your house, to your doctor's office, to your car,
and to your favorite coffee shop. By 2025, technologists believe artificial intelligence will
permeate wide swaths of day-to-day life. And, obviously, these robots are going to take some
human jobs. Machines have been displacing humans this way for centuries. What's less clear is
whether the overall economic and employment picture for humans will be bleaker or brighter as
a result.
As IBM's Watson proved on Jeopardy, robots are becoming smarter than people. They
also make fewer mistakes and they don't get bored. In 2013 there was 1.2 million industrial
robots working worldwide, that's one robot for every 5,000 people, according to Marshall Brain,

Running Head: WILL ROBOTS TAKE OVER?

founder of How Stuff Works and author of Robotic Nation. Robots are currently analyzing
documents, filling prescriptions, and handling other tasks that were once exclusively done by
humans.

Running Head: WILL ROBOTS TAKE OVER?

References
Imagining the Internet (2014). Impacts of AI and robotics by 2025 http://www.elon.edu/eweb/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/2025_Internet_AI_Robotics.xhtml
Self-driving cars, intelligent digital agents that can act for you, and robots are advancing
rapidly. Will networked, automated, artificial intelligence (AI) applications and robotic devices
have displaced more jobs than they have created by 2025? Describe your expectation about the
degree to which robots, digital agents, and AI tools will have disrupted white collar and blue
collar jobs by 2025 and the social consequences emerging from that.

ComputerWorld (2014). One and Three Jobs WIll be Taken by Software or Robots 10/6/14
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2691607/one-in-three-jobs-will-be-taken-by-software-or-robotsby-2025.html
One day, a drone may be your eyes and ears," said Peter Sondergaard, Gartner's research
director. In five years, drones will be a standard part of operations in many industries, used in
agriculture, geographical surveys and oil and gas pipeline inspections.