Who will you hire: man or robot?

Intelligent digital networks have created a tangible link between man and machine.

“In the twenty-first century, the robot will take the place which slave labour occupied in ancient civilisation.” This prediction made by Nikola Tesla in 1898 is not far from what our economy looks like nowadays. Of course the term “slave labour” does not apply to the jobs we’ve seen replaced by robots in the past decades and it is safe to assume that the robots we currently use, are different from what Tesla imagined. Most people associate robots with those resembling humans or the ones that are being used to manufacture cars, but the reality is a lot more multifaceted. 

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a robot is a “machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer”. However, when talking about robots, the real topic is automation. In discussing automation in a business context, the important factor is the potential that a given activity or occupation could be automated by adopting current and future technology. The main questions are whether or not the automation of that activity is technically feasible and whether or not it makes financial sense.