Want to quit work an hour earlier? Deploy a robot or AI

October 20

Only one-in-three Australians are using advanced technology like AI and robotics to make their job easier but two thirds say they could benefit from it.

Workers estimate the technology could save them more than an hour a day on tasks, and they are increasingly keen to use it for everything from moving heavy objects to attending meetings on their behalf.

Amazon Australia released the research findings on Sunday after also teaming with demographer Bernard Salt to analyse changes in the nation’s workforce brought about by technology.

The study, conducted by Lonergan Research, asked 1000 Australians about their use of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation in the workplace.

It found 36 per cent were already using the technology and 79 per cent thought they could.

Workers predicted they could save 61 minutes a day on routine tasks by using technology, although millennials thought they would save more time than baby boomers.

Tasks people would assign to robotics or AI tools ranged from lifting or moving heavy items, scheduling appointments, responding to emails and attending meetings on their behalf.

Most of the tasks nominated by respondents were monotonous or physically demanding, Mr Salt said, showing workers were ready to delegate the worst parts of their jobs to technology.

“Mechanisation, robotics and automation really releases humanity from the drudgery of boring, repetitive and sometimes dangerous work and actually frees human beings to do other stuff,” he said.

“It’s better than saying ‘everyone work harder’.”

Increasing use of technology was also elevating the jobs given to humans as robots and AI were used to complete basic tasks.

Analysis of Australia’s job market over the past decade showed a 43 per cent growth in better paying level-one and level-two jobs, Mr Salt said, while entry-level roles grew by five per cent.

“There’s a shift towards higher paid jobs, skilled jobs and the lowest paid, unskilled work… it’s not keeping up with the pace of workforce growth,” he told AAP.

“We’re getting better productivity per worker and this is important at a global level.”

Amazon worker Reza Faqiri, from Sydney, said he undertook training to work with small shelf-moving robots in the company’s first Australian robotic warehouse.

People might initially worry whether “robots are safe or not,” he said, but their introduction has meant fewer people needed to carry goods around the workplace.

“Our robots can move weights up to 360 kilograms, which used to require maybe three or four people if we divided them into smaller weights,” he said.

“I see a huge difference.”

Research released by the International Monetary Fund this year predicted AI technology would impact around 60 per cent of jobs in advanced economies like Australia, and half the roles affected would benefit from its use.

AI could reduce demand for the other half of affected roles, it warned, and could replace some jobs entirely.

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