I remember as a child reading about Karel Capek's 1921 "Rossum's Universal Robots" (RUR) introducing the notion of 'automated humans'.
Equally as a child, Robbie the Robot, and no small amount of output by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson promised a future of drudgery avoidance, convenience and life enhancement through technology.
Capek’s 1921 play is now a century old and much contemporary science fiction have suggested that automation and robotics will eventually result in artificial intelligence emulating human capabilities, achieving consciousness and competing with us as a species.
Away from these apocalyptic, “Terminator” types of script, my concern lies more with how we compete with each other and what we lose within our own conscious experience in a world of automation. Our current world remains a long way from the ‘alternative humans’ vision of the past and we have more automation than automatons in the form of systems, software, production and fulfilment platforms ably assisted with the advent of the online world and the growth of artificial intelligence.
Clearly production automation has served well to remove the some of the pain involved in repetitive, demeaning jobs. That said, the same processes that add to competitiveness, profitability and the bottom line, often come at the expense of jobs and communities. In a world of capitalism, especially those areas yet to be regulated, there are always human consequences.
In the online world, this is particularly true. Automation allows for worldwide trading to occur, often with little ‘relational space’ between customer and seller. Fine if it works well, but there are fewer consumer protections than in the face-to-face world especially where we contract within nation states. Equally, online automation can result in massive exploitation of people at risk of being the victims of fraud and other online criminal activity, than would ever occur in their own community.
Automation brings huge benefits to humanity, but it places distances between us also. At its worst, we can be reduced to units of data to be analysed for our buying patterns, to be pursued, coded into demographics and “funnelled” into the sales process. It can deny our humanity in favour of a simple numbers game.
The online community has connected the world, increased opportunity and allowed for greater collaboration. But equally, its poor regulation has resulted in large corporations banking billions with eye watering tax avoidance whilst ordinary individuals and traders are pursued by the functions of state with little compassion. The deficits of the online community, including, our risk of cybercrime, our invasion of privacy, being reduced to a data commodity, are still being realised over the benefits. But as with all innovation, change will eventually come if the ever-increasing downsides exceed the benefits gained, the cries of greater protection will be heard more loudly and if not responded to, many will simply change behaviours.
So, what is the importance of all this for business? Well, we are not all multinationals, but it is easy to be attracted into the notion that simple automation can improve our customer base and better connect with our customers. The growth of chat bots for example, have been significant in connecting with a range of customers who might otherwise ‘bounce’ off websites, but for many people, they repel and only a true human touch would seal the deal.
Interaction between business and their customers is always about a relationship which transcends the literal deal itself. It’s about respect, understanding, social engagement, listening to needs and responding to these. Most importantly, it is about treating people as individuals, something in an increasingly “woke” society we demand. Congruency, respect, good service and an understanding of individuals is not something that can easily be reduced in algorithm and whilst automation can encompass some good things, like improving access to somebody’s diary for example, it often makes for a pretty wooden complaints process.
Just like the 1921 play, wherein the thesis was very much that technology is a great servant not a master, if we allow it to dominate our operation or expect it to be the mainstay approach to better capitalise and profit from our dealings with customers, something essential is lost.
