AI & The Future of Work | Volker Hirsch | TEDxManchester

The robots are coming. We (as in the people who attend TED talks and things) tend to think we will probably be fine. You know, knowledge folks and all. We might not be. What will be our coping mechanisms? What can we do to be OK?
Volker Hirsch is not afraid of placing his faith in concepts that others consider “niche”.
He has championed mobile and games for more than 15 years as an angel investor, founder, and advisor. He helped launch the world’s first mobile music services, published games on tiny black and white mobile phones and - damningly - used the term “gamification” as early as 2006. Today his focus is on education, Internet of Things (IoT) and - still - games.
Blackberry’s former Global Head of Business Development is now a founder of several companies, including software development house Blue Beck, and IoT venture programme builder Quantified Ventures. He is also a venture partner at leading EdTech accelerator Emerge Education, and the chairman of knowledge content recommendation system Bibblio.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@alexandj38]

Made with love, emotional value, love what you create, empathy, genuine creativity, critical thought - will remain human after digital transformation.

[@alfredoalo]

Creativity, Critical thought, emphathy, LOVE

[@MrTommys-wc7qw]

That truck going on the roads of nevada by itself is secretly Optimus Prime

[@christopherhunt-walker6294]

Good overview. We need more of the conversation around restructuring society, and we need to have that sooner than later.

[@splouffy]

The "uhms" are killing me.

[@thechristiancowboy6967]

"When I was younger, I studied to be a lawyer, but I am safe now, because I fled from that practice of being a lawyer" Not a peep from the audience, that remark deserved on laugh. These kids are geniuses...

[@kenmay5532]

Crack that joke now and you will get a reaction.. AI Is Real in 2023

[@affixedgroup1712]

The purpose of Factory Automation is to free the line operator to focus on tasks that require greater thought. The goal is to advance people AND production.

[@alexjordon2595]

Knowledge is power within context now and forever.

[@sreyna3000]

We are pushing ourselves out of existence .

[@bluemamba5317]

No, we are trying to create an image of ourself that is better. Like we've always have done.

[@kody1654]

The idea that unemployment will push our species to extinction, is proof our society is sick, misguided, and needs to reevaluate what it means to be human.

[@maroindefinitlyhuman6857]

Here from the future. Creativity is already under attack.

[@djpete2009]

Hahaah! Here form the future future. Creativity is toast!

[@ablebody481000]

great tedx enjoyed it totally. hope to see more.

[@nevathatchile]

LIFE SAVER FOR THIS ONE

[@kabakiAntony]

Watching this in 2024, it is interesting how so much has changed within a span of seven years.

[@donataspimpasas]

I was trying to figure out what profession to pursue for a year or so. This is the best talk that answered question what jobs there will be available in near future

[@jug525]

Little Girl Andrew Yang will help us move into this new economy

[@renestjacques1]

much appreciated .. thank you Volker Hirsch ..!!

[@anzoraslanukov5048]

You cannot win against technology But you can win WITH technology!

[@peterwinkelmann9114]

EEEEYYY I'm listening in from Auckland, New Zealand!

[@stxflyer]

My first IBM mainframe had 98k, no keyboard, no monitor, punch card program input, 18 tape drives for storage. We ran an 18,000 person, 7 days, 24 hours factory.

[@wireless9244]

I remember when shopping trolly/carts were collected by high school drop-outs. Thanks to digital disruption, the little box and chain on a shopping trolly, that locks them together, where people want their dollar back, means 10 guys who used to drag those carts from all over the place, have been replaced by one guy who drives the trailer from a collection point. That's digital disruption at its least. I work in I.T and I have to learn something new every few months. From my perspective, I'm watching blacksmiths, carters and scribes debate quantum physics and nuclear theory. Learn that you'll be replaced and that learning something new is the only option we all have left.

[@weareallbeingwatched4602]

watch "a blacksmith debunks the architects and engineers for 9/11 truth arguments". It really is worth noting that blacksmiths have been on the cutting edge of materials science and chemistry since antiquity. Don't mess with the hands-on imperative.

[@aileenpi73]

Machines will take our jobs and they do amazing things; somehow we still have trouble with the clicker of the projector

[@ucheucheuche]

The limitations with empathy stem from people's lack of knowledge of human brain and how to recreate emotions, memory and self belief.

[@RedSunFX]

15:08 I'm not a native speaker but I'm fairly sure that they did a typo in "ecucation"

[@creamroll1635]

He is like gaining power when he says uum.?

[@TEAMPHY6]

It's over 9000

[@riccardogiralico327]

So annoying uums!!!!!! Any Ted talk on communication says rhat uums should be avoided. Sorry to say but they are driving me mad!!!

[@mikeg9b]

15:06 EDUCATION, ECUCATION, ECUCATION

[@hakusansaku8800]

How can the problem be the solution? Without Education automation is impossible. With 1100*10^8 Byte /year exchanged there's no human who can learn all that stuff.

[@mikeg9b]

I was pointing out a misspelling. If there's one thing a person advocating education should not do, it's misspell the word "education."

[@alvarorodriguez1592]

Haku Sansaku That's an incrediby good point!! Don't we already guide our societies by statistical indicators?

[@johnhaz6126]

When the company save money they pass on those saving onto you; how about “when the company save money the shareholders get more." A.I in logistic inspiration

[@dannymeske3821]

AI will take jobs and the savings you mention will mean nothing to people have no jobs or money

[@johndough7479]

THAT'S RIGHT! STEP 3. EDUCATION!

[@philipliu9100]

Robots are not coming, they are already here.

[@Cherry-vw5ru]

Question is, how will economy will run if there are no stakeholders? No job, no income, no spending. What will be our only option and source of income and type of jobs that would be left for us to do; how will companies thrive without that resources their profits?

[@Letsgo-sg4cy]

Capitalism will be overturned. We will lose our jobs and government will give us UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME to pay our bills for everything. It will be a limited amount of money like Andrew yaung had proposed ( $ 12000) . People will just survive. The people who are already rich will live a good life but we will be doomed. Those big company will control everything. They will pay taxes to the government and government will give us universal basic income. That's how will everything work. Economy will not grow and our humanity will collapse within few hundred years. Those people are playing with fire but government is careless about it. That's will be the end.

[@Cherry-vw5ru]

@@Letsgo-sg4cy that’s terrible. That means we will be like the mindless livestock that feeds for the wealthy people’s greed. What do we must do to prevent from this happening? There probably some way we wise people could do to prevent this from happening.

[@mssummerrose1]

Empathy, creativity... I believe that androids will even be better at that, too

[@christopheryeung7222]

You were right

[@mssummerrose1]

@christopheryeung7222 why were... ?

[@Chance411]

I think we had better plug all our knowledge of economics into this deep mind borg thing and ask it come up with a way to ease this incredible amount of displacement.

[@emarskineel]

Chance411 displacement won't be an issue in a post-scarcity existence...there will be many more complicated social issues for sure.

[@Chance411]

Idk. My guess is governments will be slow to react to how swiftly job losses will occur. It seems the only thing they can come up with is guaranteed income and that already exists, its called welfare. Even the driver less car that is just around the corner will decimate conventional economics. As more and more jobs become automated to an AI cloud server the social unrest will increase ten fold.

[@JohnRinNoHo]

Robots make it possible to do more work with less labor. If a robot replaces 10 workers that means that those ten workers are now available to do other work, assuming the government doesn't restrict work through welfare and minimum wage laws. Whatever work they go into will increase the overall net production that was done before the robot replaced them. The Law of Supply and Demand shows that increase production will lower prices, consumers benefit because less work is necessary to obtain the goods they desire.

[@Pernection]

JohnRinNoHo which will also mean less money to buy stuff

[@JohnRinNoHo]

The stock of money does not change with an increase in production. More money is now freed and available for entrepreneurs to invest in new products which will need new workers to produce those products, and consumers will enjoy lower prices with the increased production.

[@howardbiel1787]

Amazing!

[@coreelementar1545]

Companies should continue paying their workers so that billions of people won't be left unemployed. I think in far future people will receive credits for their speciality as a result of technical revolution and specialitys will be passed through generation. It will be the same ranked society but with less stress.

[@lefterisraptopoulos6317]

4:42-12:40, 15:00, 13:44, 15:22, 16:05

[@Mastervitro]

id prefer to keep my immortal avatar body and only use an encrypted uplink as backup and communication with the hive mind.

[@havek23]

Is this just a recompiled version of CGP Grey's "Humans Need Not Apply"? A lot of the exact same brands and technologies mentioned as his video a couple years ago

[@VolkerHirsch]

Jeeto, not it's not but, yes, there's quite a few folks trying to think about these things (thankfully). I am not claiming to be amongst the masters... just trying to do my bit.

[@user-tr9pq2qq1x]

Yes, but your speech has all the same particular examples from CGP Grey's "Humans Need Not Apply" episode, and it is 3 years old for now. And... are you also some kind of a sci-fi robot from 50-s? Why do you start every line with distinctive loud A-ammm sound?

[@DavidChipman]

He even includes some of the same images. Not knocking the point you're making, Volker.

[@imanuelbaca2468]

Both talks are based on the same book.

[@VolkerHirsch]

I did not read the book, folks. Alas, I will give it to you: if you follow the space only a little bit, it is not actually that surprising that you come up with similar concepts and indeed call out similar companies in the space. Don't forget TEDx is not deep science. It is a platform to familiarise folks who might not be sector experts with concepts. This is what I am trying to do. No need to get the tin foil hats out.

[@sanjuansteve]

Everything that can be automated should be automated. We need to worry less about our jobs being taken from us and be happier that our work is performed even better and while we're at the beach.

[@smudgepost]

@15:30 interesting point about standardisation considering even law is being replaced in court by AI; there will be work to move things to a standard framework. This fits with the McDonaldization theory by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society. My view is the empathy argument and other human values is a weaker argument at the end, rather I'd propose almost like Star Wars 'used space' in that machines do the chores to elevate us. We talk of the shift to middle or upper classes but we all stand to benefit from this shift when we're no longer at the foot of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The top 2% (or 5% I need to check) have a net worth of $5M and although they can have nice toys and can afford holidays in exotic places, are still largely working class and upper middle class worrying about food, shelter, health and retirement. Once we can be above this bottleneck we can ourselves be autonomous to develop and invent, to further expand knowledge and enlighten ourselves. The long tail of standardisation or unique variation will be explored with almost mathematical precision to quote the Matrix as there are and will be programs running all over the place that do and do not fit standardisation. Quantum computing is one such current breakthrough, multiple tasks at once but where will we be in the future when quantum computing is redundant?

[@georgemotuliki4173]

Liked this vid when he acknowledged 'auckland New Zealand'. Shot bud.

[@DaveWard-xc7vd]

Darker, Darker, Darker.....? Lighten up dude.

[@petepanteraman]

he forgot our human need to explore. the theory posed here is indicative of someone who believes there is nothing else beyond this planet. I surmise that instead of becoming fused to technology we can direct it's use to help propel us outward to benefit humanity.

[@joaodecarvalho7012]

Maybe there is one thing in which we will be better than machines. Being humans. It is questionable if AI will be capable of having empathy. And even if they do, maybe it will not be the type of empathy we want from another being. We may need to know that the being who is sharing our feelings is a human.

[@mssummerrose1]

Tactility, empathy, creativity... ai are well on their way to outdo humans... because they WILL be able to feel, because feelings stem from bodily feelings, which robots already have with their sensors

[@ProfessionalTycoons]

very interesting and scary video

[@gshrdy5415]

with all this knowledge, we still can't make a human live longer and young.

[@nicevideomancanada]

I detail cars for a living now and make more money than working as a Carpenter building houses. I'm currently contemplating about my new job being more secure than it was as a Framer/Carpenter.

[@amirtambe2957]

The dude freakin "umms" so much!

[@reginahailey4150]

Um, um, um,um um um um um um um um um um um um um um he sounds totally ILLITERATE !!!!!!!!!!!! GEESH DUDE !!!!!!!

[@RobbieFrazer]

were destined to be the Borg. hahahah

[@markspoor4663]

Why is it that only technologists are invited to talk about the impact of technology on society. Where are the sociologists? Creating technology that replaces people is a financial benefit not a societal one. Reminds of the quote in Jurassic Park............."Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

[@reghey]

Good point! Profs Brynjolfsson and Kochan argue that technologists design technologies, and that they should invent those that empower but not replace people!

[@harshtorane3520]

That's a myth; technology has always always replaced workers BUT it will also compliment workers. Cars have replaced horses, but they also created jobs for people as drivers. Theoretically workers are supposed to learn new skills (I know it's not possible for everyone) and become engineers and scientists while giving up the menial ones, that's all I know about that.

[@mjimih]

It's 2034, and I'm going to my office cubicle at home. Where I will be operating a huge machine 1500 miles away in our factory, using a virtual reality headset & gloves of course.

[@DaimyoSexy]

6:03 glitch in the Matrix

[@joshuacovarrubias6147]

"with thanks to autotrader" LMAOOOOOO

[@ppns2726]

Great ideal with pizza delivery. Send out a 30K robot to deliver a $5.00 pizza. What could go wrong?

[@SD-pn3bq]

Once you notice the umm aaammm you ummm can't ummm unotice it. umm yeah

[@tedv8323]

I do a lot of repetitive tasks, and the scary thing is: I do automations.

[@ArmoredAnubis]

Don't talk to my Alexa! :P

[@puvididdle]

15:10 Whats ECUcation?

[@drewpy3986]

A spelling error :)

[@greenboy536]

what I like of robots is they don't have an attitude like the waiter or the cashier in Walmart we are not a society willing to serve or we lost the capacity to serve

[@alexovnz]

Great, now you can get junk Domino's pizza by drone!!! I live in Auckland and I wanna see how many days a year that delivery will be possible??? The weather here is a bit wild most of the year!!!

[@gaurabdawadi]

This is amazing presentation, I watched it more than 10 times as I was also preparing for the similar presentation, I generate great ideas from this presentation, However, in 12:04 the comment he made is very inappropriate. It undermines the value of immigrant workers; it has to be respectful.

[@phanupongasvakiat337]

As soon as you say I don’t have it, I have it.......know all/Snowball

[@Kgjoha]

That robots name is Baxter Not Dexter ... Good job

[@steffens.1734]

Robots will have empathy, creativity and critical thinking in the next ten years!!!

[@LaVictoireEstLaVie]

I am sure that the robots will eventually have empathy, creativity and critical thinking skills but i think it will not happen in the next 10 years.

[@tboned1]

Kill all robots

[@mgiaros]

When the first self aware AI will be powered on our purpose will be accomplished.

[@memadman]

Yang 2020

[@sjs928]

... Maybe as Mayor of N.Y. in 2021 ?

[@adamdanuarte]

all the robot do all work, we can get our PhD together

[@l27tester]

The is an unstoppable event that is coming to world economics, that is merging of AI + Robotics. Big companies like Walmart will no longer have to contract labor in other countries (Human low skilled labor), they will have generic factories that one day will make clothes, the next refrigerators. These factories may have at most 5 people total, but will churn out products 24x7x365 with no human 'touch'. Now economies of scale will be such that that low skilled worker is too expensive to keep. Lets take it further, put the factories on cargo ships, move the factory to the target market, now no shipping cost or very little cost. Imagine now this will impact regions that base their economy on low skill work? Ok, so your a skilled worker, and think you are safe? Sorry now, AI will be both a race to the bottom and a race to the top. We will find that our skills, even our creativity, are just a commodity that will be rapidly encroached on by AI.

[@MrMuthoju]

Human being is not a creation of a Robot, Robots can never surpass humans.

[@circusboy90210]

Just because we have the technology does not mean we have to employ minute. There is one thing of a she can never do like a human which is create NB imaginative .A person is not on necessary expense they are the reason the job even ever existed. Will need work to have value Most items are better when handmade then buy a machine

[@DavidMiller-wd4xw]

At 9:11 minutes in does he say “sorry to label”? Is he apologizing to AI?

[@cococi1]

"and you can buy this things " while showing a 75k pair of hands that can remotely cook that is if you do all the prepping beforehand

[@natemurray02]

If computational power and AI are progressing at such an incredible rate (and will more so with quantum computational power), and machine learning works as neural network, why is our cranium limited chemical neural network more capable of love, creativity, and empathy than a computers? Maybe the answer isn’t figuring out how we can contribute our future society, but figuring out how our future society can benefit us.

[@ludwigvanel9192]

The invention of the combine harvester has made society immeasurably richer. sadly, people will first lose their jobs, but society will be so much richer that they can easily retrain for new jobs, and there will be more jobs, so future generations will have more jobs. Remember: someone has to make the robots.

[@SuperTekZone]

Uh, you're forgetting the fact that eventually the robots will make the robots and even design and engineer them.

[@hakusansaku8800]

Being economically "worthless" is the near future for most people. And it's a very dangerous position to be in. If you cannot justify and provide economical value to the system your very right to exist is endangered. All the talk about Automation and AI has one consequence. You human capital is going down rapidly. And there's really little you can do to raise it again. Even with "Education". Which course can raise your employability high enough ? 1st Wold nations are much better of socially than 2nd or 3r world countries. In Germany for example you can expect the government providing a basic income for existing for a period of time, even with huge repressals. But for India for example there's no one who will provide for you If you cannot work anymore (maybe your family). So the biggest social riots are expected to start in 3rd world, creating civil wars and huge migrant flows to rich countries. If you look at the migrant crisis of europe. Most of them are uneducated and thus have little to no economic value for european economy. I don't seem them being treated in a good way.

[@jedimastersterling1]

And then Alpha-Zero trounced Alpha-Go less than a year later with no human input. Scratch data set curator off the list of "safe" jobs.

[@gautamj7450]

1 exabyte of "Ammmmmm"

[@allancrow134]

Drummers were the first to go, then it was Bass players, then the keyboard players now they are coming for the guitars.

[@aikisato7852]

Not happening.

[@dandil]

this talk sounds very familiar. Could it be: a total ripoff of CGP Grey's "Humans Need Not Apply"?

[@PabloContrerasFotoviajante]

he needs a robot to pass the slides...

[@pastortimredfern5440]

Pablo Contreras, if you think that comment is funny, sir, you have entirely missed the point! 😡

[@hypersonicmonkeybrains3418]

He mentioned that Alpha Go was trained on humans and could not have been done without humans. Well yesterday they announced Alpha GO Zero, its far superior than Alpha GO and it was trained using no data an fed no human games, it learnt from first principles and a blank board.. No humans needed.

[@kevngu7256]

I think sled driving uber and that truck is control by an person with the remote

[@Godsoldier777]

This technology has been here before dont get sucked down the rabbit hole

[@Andrewg820]

President Tom Kirkman!

[@MichaelDeeringMHC]

Forget it. Robots will do love, empathy, creativity and critical thinking better than us too.

[@Competitiveforlolz]

These all came with human intelligence. What new emotions will there come to be when our intelligence rises beyond human levels. We simply can't comprehend at this point in time. Eventually we'll have to merge with this intelligence or be controlled over.

[@VolkerHirsch]

What I said is that they will find these things harder to do. It is hence an area where humans will enjoy an advantage over machines for longer than in other areas. It is, for the time being, on us to shape this future. The whole point of this was to help people to wake up: if we're happily watch on and do not tackle some rather fundamental questions that come with the rise of AI, we will be stumbling into a future that might be quite dire. If, on the other hand, we become responsible actors in this game, this could also come out quite nicely... so: the point is not binary.

[@siminthesky]

soulles beings are not real.. meditate on that.. it is only there and seems real because we let it happen..what if we change our minds and most of all our hearts?

[@MichaelDeeringMHC]

Souless beings? Don't make me laugh.

[@ajwright5512]

Errrr... I think we'll win love. The others - yeah, out of luck.

[@TorbenRudgaard]

anyone counted the "Ammmm"s?

[@pierreklee7490]

Cyberdine!

[@matl09111981]

Gods will be born when owe brain is also part of the ai and how many ai can we run all at the same time

[@circusboy90210]

That truck in Nevada can barely maintain control on a flat level dry highway with good construction.

[@carlonryan180]

So they aren't going to improve it?? So it's not eventually going to be better at perceiving it's environment than we are? Come on circusboy, it's obvious the direction things are headed, don't be facetious, don't pretend like we will just stop innovating all of a sudden or that we reached the peak of progress because, 'the truck in Nevada isn't perfect yet'.

[@csabaszucs1688]

aammmm, on the day when robots clapping an lough on your show and aammmm they didn't pay for TED tickets, you know we fucked up somewhere.

[@Yakri]

what an unintelligible fucking mess. "I don't know anything about quantum computing, but I'mma talk about it anyway." Just one of many great quotes from this intellectual masterpiece.

[@ronnyvalsj2116]

AMM AMMM.. GHAAAA !!!!

[@JordanShackelford]

Actually the alpha go was only initialized trained on humans and then it played millions of games itself afterwards

[@RedWinePlease]

Pls...pls..pls... Someone coach hm on his hmmms. Otherwise, the talk is interesting.

[@aroncarvajal7080]

In your dreams

[@aptginc]

We really need a EMP to happen ?

[@craxylai]

we are goin to the moon

[@khaled_2587]

Jack Bauer

[@YAVIAH]

"Umm"

[@ma2i485]

lol 6 megabytes is a size of a photo today

[@tiki11000]

aam...am...aaaam..am...am..aammm