The use of artificial intelligence, robots and activity meters in the workplace has a negative impact on the quality of life
A major study by the Institute for the Future of Work from London shows that exposure to new technologies such as activity trackers, robots and artificially intelligent software has had a negative impact on the quality of human life. More than 6,000 people participated in the research, and the researchers were mainly interested in the impact of four groups of technologies that are becoming more and more popular, on human life.
Avtorji raziskave so ugotovili, da bolj kot so zaposleni izpostavljeni trem od teh kategorij – programska oprema, ki bazira na umetni inteligenci in tehnologiji strojnega učenja, napravam za nadzor, kot so merilniki aktivnosti in robotiki – slabše je njihovo zdravje in splošno počutje. Po drugi strani pa je uporaba dalj časa prisotnih IKT tehnologij, kot so prenosniki, tablice in komunikacijske aplikacije na delovnema mestu pokazala bolj pozitiven vpliv na počutje udeležencev raziskave.
“We found that with a higher frequency of use and interaction of ICT technology, the quality of life increases, while it decreases with a higher frequency of use of newer technologies at the workplace“, so zapisali v poročilu raziskave. Avtorji sicer niso direktno raziskovali vzrokov, so pa izpostavili, da se njihovi rezultati skladajo z ugotovitvami predhodnih raziskav, ki so pokazale, da “new technologies of this type can cause uncertainty regarding job security, increase workload, lead to routinization and loss of sense of the meaning of the work done, as well as a loss of autonomy and all this affects the general well-being of employees“.
Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that by 2030, 300 million jobs could disappear worldwide due to automation. Mainly due to the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence, many more roles and jobs will radically change, they say.
Dr. Magdalena Soffia, glavna avtorica raziskave pravi, da ni nujno problem sama tehnologije, temveč način na katerega se ta uporablja. “We do not want to argue that there is some kind of determinism in the ways technology affects human well-being. We argue that everything depends on the context: on many structural factors, environmental conditions, how it is designed and how it is used. So a lot of human decisions“, pravi dr. Soffia.
Kot dodatno pojasnilo je ponudila obrazložitev, da so raziskovalci v tej dotični študiji uporabili zelo široko sprejet model merjenja kvalitete življenja EuroQoL EQ-5D-3L. Ta zajema faktorje, kot so mobilnost, mentalno zdravje in raven bolečine. “Želeli smo zzajeti bolj multidimenzionalni pogled na to, kaj se dogaja v smislu kvalitete življenja. Zato smo uporabili ta model, ki je potrjen s strani javnega zdravstvenega sektorja v VB”, je dodala.
Zakaj ravno nekoliko bolj “klasična” IKT pozitivno vpliva na življenje človeka? Soffia vidi enega od potencialno možnih mehanizmov na tem področju, ki pomaga olajšati delovne procese in posledično s tem dvigniti raven učinkovitosti. To pa pri ljudeh dvigne občutek dosežka.
Quite the opposite is evident in the field of activity meters and other monitoring technologies. For example, trade unions have been warning for some time about the negative effects of this technology on employee efficiency.
Therefore, in response to this study, many experts point out the importance of regulating the field of artificial intelligence. Because otherwise, we may reach a point where artificial intelligence turns the world of work into an oppressive and unhealthy world.