A news channel in China has employed a robot as a weather reporter on its live breakfast show raising concerns among Chinese journalist over artificial intelligence threatening their job.
The robot called Xiaoice is marked with an ability to instantly comment on news events and weather data while giving live broadcast. The machine even has emotional computing technologies that make it capable of making emotional comments. As a trainee anchor, the robot software will deliver the weather forecast daily.
Microsoft, which used smart cloud and big data to develop the Xiaoice software, said that breakthroughs in text-to-speech artificial intelligence have helped the AI software achieve 4.32 score in linguistic naturalness, which fared better compared with the 4.76 score of a human voice.
Xiaoice's debut on Morning News on Tuesday raised worry that the robot could result in TV anchors and weather reporters losing their jobs albeit Shanghai Media Group's, director of TV news Song Jiongming said that human anchors will not be totally replaced by the robot in the near future and would only supplement humans using capabilities with big data analysis.
It isn't the first time that people become threatened of losing their jobs to an intelligent machine though. In September this year, China's social and gaming giant Tencent had a robot write a business report, which impressed even journalists.
"The piece is very readable. I can't even tell it wasn't written by a person," said Li Wei, a Shenzhen-based reporter.
Automation and the advent of intelligent machines are likely to change the global workforce. One study even shows that computerization can place about 47 percent of employment in the U.S. at risk with the following employees likely to lose their jobs to intelligent machines:
Soldiers
Human soldiers may soon be replaced by robots as drones and other machines are now being tapped for reconnaissance and combat missions. These machines are not at risk of suffering from PTSD and similar conditions faced by human soldiers. They are also being equipped at getting better in the battle field. Foster-Miller's MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) is capable of differentiating fire and no-fire zones and can drag out injured bodies.
Pharmacists
Robots and not human pharmacists may soon accommodate prescription orders. The UCSF Medical Center, for instance, has already launched a robotics-controlled pharmacy at two hospitals, where the robotics systems, pick, package, and dispense doses of drugs as ordered by physicians and pharmacists.
Lawyers
Non-litigation lawyers may soon be replaced by online form-based services that can carry out relatively simple tasks such as those pertaining to trademark applications, wills and divorce.
Restaurant Cooks
Cooks in restaurant have high chances of being replaced by robots given their speed and other capabilities that are crucial for kitchen tasks. A robot chef designed by Moley Robots can make crab bisque in a matter of 30 minutes speeding up preparation time for complicated dishes.
Bookkeepers
Big companies such as Verizon, Pilot Travel and GameStop now use software to automate their bookkeeping tasks. With automated programs, these companies no longer need to hire an army of clerks allowing them to save on costs.
Drivers
Drivers and chauffeurs may no longer be needed in the future. Google has already tested its self-driving cars which can run thousands of miles without human intervention. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has also announced plans of replacing drivers with self-driving cars.
