Have you ever watched “I, Robot?” You know, the dystopian movie where robots turn evil, turn against humans, and start killing them? While this plot may never become reality, it is true that artificial intelligence and robots are becoming increasingly interwoven into our society.
ChatGPT use has become commonplace for many students and workers. Calling a Waymo instead of an Uber, ordering robot food deliveries over DoorDash, removing someone or something from an image using AI rather than Photoshop – the list goes on. AI is simply just an easier alternative to doing the work yourself, and, as a bonus, corporations then do not have to pay a human for doing the work. In many cases, this can help us out, but there are serious negative side effects to this shortcut.
It is no secret that robots are filling the jobs that humans once held. Even in just the few ways I listed above, jobs done by humans are being exchanged for jobs done by robots. While this may not directly affect you now, it is very possible that your job is in danger of being taken over by AI.
It has become apparent to me that robots are currently being advertised to us. We are being sold a future with robots. What I mean by this is that our introduction to robots and AI has been very consumer-friendly and easily accessible. Humans are innately skeptical of robots and AI, especially after being exposed to movies like “I, robot.”
I believe robots fall into the uncanny valley phenomenon, where the human brain can sense that something human-like is not human, causing discomfort or repulsion. Despite this, innovators are continuing the push for robots using different techniques. For instance, rather than giving the robot a human face, they create a more cartoonish figure. The other day, as I was walking down Bruin Walk, a little robot wearing a hat and dancing around blocked my path to class. My first instinct was to think, Aw – look at that cute little robot dancing. This is the very goal of such displays of robots. They are desensitizing us to seeing robots in everyday life and creating positive emotional associations with these machines.
Additionally, there is something to be said about Chatbots’ sociability. ChatGPT being free and kind to users does the same thing to the human brain as displaying robots in public, but it goes one step further. We are now personally interacting with the AI model and forming a “relationship” with it. ChatGPT mirrors how you speak to it to make itself increasingly likeable to the user. It memorizes information about you to use in later conversations. Through these techniques, we can form a sort of friendship. The purpose of these emotional connections is to familiarize us with robots and remove the negative connotations associated with them. This is all to create a more seamless integration of robots into our society – an integration that has already begun.
AI is already finding its way into workplaces, starting with low-wage jobs. The first entirely automated fast food restaurant opened recently in California. Powered by Miso Robotics, the food and service are entirely done by robots. The founders of Miso Robotics and managers in establishments that use their products say that these technologies are not created for the intent of taking away any jobs.
There have been understaffing issues in the fast food industry, and certain jobs can be seen as dangerous. These two reasons are the justifications for robots in restaurants. Additionally, from an economic standpoint, restaurants stand to gain money from robot installations. There are both positives and negatives. Robots are filling the empty space caused by the worker shortage, but robot expansion could take jobs of workers that are already there, seemingly for the cost benefits of corporate leaders. Some further examples of this include Waymo replacing jobs that Uber and Lyft drivers need. With self-driving cars, the transport service industry is likely to switch to new, less costly innovations. With robots doing the work, there is a lot less hassle about workers’ rights, benefits, and wage costs.
Not only are low-wage jobs at risk, but so are jobs in the technology industry. In April, there were 33,361 job cuts, making it 85,411 for 2026 so far. The leading cause of these cuts? AI chips. The cost of these chips leaves tech companies without enough money to pay engineers’ salaries. As someone born near Silicon Valley and into an entire family of engineers – with two in tech – the fear of job loss is very real.
Contrary to this fact, AI business leaders still believe AI will create more jobs than it will replace. The scariest part about job loss in the tech industry is that individuals with high education levels and experience are losing high-level positions. It is the expectation that if one puts forth the investment of time, money, and effort into their education, the job market will reflect this investment back into the individual. However, with Nvidia chips replacing human labor, such education seems meaningless.
What worries us the most is whether our jobs and our livelihoods, are at risk. As a college student, I am in fear that my investment may not be worth it by the time I get out of college. I was introduced to this website in high school, where you can see the likelihood of your job being replaced by AI. While it’s difficult to rely on the analysis of a website for your future, it’s a good indicator of which direction a certain career may be headed.
The reality is that technology that exists right now is not capable of doing many jobs to the same capacity as a human. This can put your mind at ease for now; however, the innovations within low-wage service and tech serve as warnings for what may occur in future careers. The trajectory matches what Umesh Ramakrishnan, cofounder and chief strategy officer at executive search firm Kingsley Gate says, “It starts at the bottom, and it keeps going up.”
So while robots may not be taking over the world in the sense that movies have exaggerated, the implications of AI use could have drastic impacts on contemporary society. Mass joblessness of the middle- and lower-class by AI is not killing us directly, but indirectly taking our livelihoods. The best we can do is be wary of AI’s infiltration and try to grow alongside it. We should ask ourselves not what AI is doing to us, but what it can do for us. Pesky tasks like email writing and filing can be done by AI and make our lives a little easier.
There are both positives and negatives to new innovations. While AI comes with serious societal implications, I find comfort in knowing that the computer that I’m currently writing on was once an innovation thought to take jobs away from humans. A changing world is a scary one. But then again, when is the world ever unchanging?