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Raymond Lozano

CST 300 Writing Lab

February 19, 2022

Man versus Machine: Artificial Intelligence and Automation in the Workplace

Intro

When thinking about the future of technology, people have often thought that robots will

be the way of the future. Automation and Artificial Intelligence is being seen today helping the

lives of consumers with machines like self-checkout allowing customers to finish their shopping

on their own without the assistance of another cashier. Or something like McDonald’s artificial

intelligence taking drive-thru orders in Chicago, Illinois (Lucas, 2021). Often this technology

aids workers by lightening their workload and tasks freeing them to take care of other jobs.

Because of machines being able to take on other tasks more efficiently than human workers, the

question becomes: Should Artificial Intelligence and Automation be allowed to replace workers

in the future on a mass scale?

Issue

In recent restaurants, grocery, and retail stores are slowly implementing more and more

technology in order to aid consumer experience by increasing the efficiency of the service

rendered to customers. This may be good for consumers, but it comes at the cost of workers due

to less employees being needed at these jobs. Self-checkout machines only require one person to

operate and watch over multiple machines at a time. There can be multiple of these machines

replacing a few traditional checkout lanes. This means that there is less need for cashiers when
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only one is required to oversee a group of self-checkout machines. If there are less people

needing to be hired overall at a workplace then there will be more demand for jobs from the

working-class citizens. Eventually as technology further advances to replace more and more

jobs, there will be potential of even more people without a job. The more people without a job,

the higher chance of civil unrest from among workers.

Automation was a term that was used in the automobile industry in around 1946 in the

manufacturing production lines (Groover, n.d.). Moving further throughout the years the term

has been used to describe the process of work being automated by machines. Physical labor,

customer interaction, and even office work (such as employee payroll), are all things that have

been seeing automation in some form or another.

Artificial Intelligence is the use of computers to make decision-making and problem-

solving in a similar way that humans are able to through the use of machine learning and

algorithms (IBM Cloud Education, 2020). Specialized hardware and software allow such

machines to learn, usually by taking in large amounts of data, and then coming up with the most

rational decision that it can conclude. An example of this technology is the Apprente AI

technology that McDonald’s has purchased and used at 10 Chicago stores (Lucas, 2019).

Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder 1: Companies and Corporations

Companies and corporations want to maximize their profits in order to appease

shareholders, CEOs and private owners. Part of that process of maximizing profits is to cut costs

and spending wherever possible. They will also try to maximize the amount of value they can
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get from their resources, like increasing prices, and labor, hence seeing long work hours from

workers.

Companies want to use whatever they can (within legal means, usually) to maximize their

profits. As technology moves forward, automation and artificial intelligence will make these

increase in profits more attainable and desirable. It will allow them to keep businesses in

constant motion in the most efficient way possible.

Since these companies and corporations want to squeeze as much profit out of their

businesses as possible, automation and artificial intelligence will help achieve those profit

increases. The costs may be high at first, but over time profits will eventually pay for the cost of

implementing these machines into the workplaces. Automation can reduce the costs of business

operations. As machines grow smarter and become better at learning then productivity can also

increase. Advanced technology also allows machines to be more reliable in the workplace as

well as being the most optimized “worker” possible.

Machines being able to take on the work of potentially many humans, business costs will

go down. For example, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has stated that he wants to have

more of the kitchen become automated (grills, fryers) along with the drive-thru windows (Lucas,

2021). If those tasks are taken by machines, then that frees workers to tend to other tasks, like

cleaning or ensuring customer orders are correct or need corrections.

Stakeholder 2: Workers

Working class citizens value their jobs in that it pays for their lifestyle choices or at the

very minimum keeps a roof over their heads and mouths fed. More importantly in some places

like the United States jobs are also tied to various benefits like healthcare, dental, and retirement
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policies. The future of workplaces that adopt automation and artificial intelligence will

potentially disrupt workers’ well-beings.

Workers are in the position that they do not want automation to be widespread as it will

negatively affect their workplaces, and fellow coworkers. There will be growing concerns over

the ability to live if or when people start losing their jobs due to automation. People not being

able to pay for rent, food, or medical bills will be of the largest concerns among workers who

start losing jobs.

To back this position, at least in the United States, according to a survey by the Pew

Research Center on working adults, half of the adults have already claimed that American

workers are already hurt by automation within the workplace (Geiger, 2019). If workers have no

college experience, they expect that their jobs will eventually be taken care of by machines (Pew

Research Center, 2019). If workers are displaced by automation and artificial intelligence, then

they will need to search for a new job in order to sustain their life. This technology is not as

widespread yet but according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, the potential amount of

workers that will lose their jobs due to automation adoption in the workplace can range between

10 million to 800 million.

Argument Question

Should artificial intelligence and automation be allowed to replace workers on a mass

scale potentially causing a large wave of unemployed working-class citizens?

Arguments

Stakeholder 1: Companies and Corporations

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Companies and corporations will take a Kant view of the problem. It is rational to want

to bring in more automation into the workforce in order to maximize profits. They will choose

what feels right for their company and shareholders regardless of the consequences that the

workers who are displaced will face. It will move companies forward in terms of technology,

making the lives easier for the owners of companies and corporations, with decision making

being taken care of by artificial intelligence.

Owners and shareholders will argue that machines will be more reliable in reaching their

target profit quota. They will not need breaks, will not be able to call out sick, take vacation, can

run virtually non-stop, and with artificial intelligence, can perform the most rational solution to

nearly any problem that it faces. Due to this, automation and AI will help bring operating costs

down. The overall cost of automated machines is the initial implementation, and then the

maintenance required to keep these machines running. There will be no required salaries to pay

for these machines, no overtime pay so businesses can run them nearly all day every day. No

health insurance or matching 401k offers. Also, for the workers who will work alongside

machines, it will make their lives easier and allow them to perform in a more efficient manner as

well as potentially allowing more dangerous tasks to be automated. On the consumer side of

things, it will allow people to move in and out of stores and restaurants in an efficient way.

Companies that implement this advanced technology into the workplace will also allow

employees to seek learning high-skilled jobs. They will see it as ethical because it will allow

society to seek a better education to get high-skilled higher paying jobs. The technology will

allow more jobs to open as it being a new job market that would be stepping into the industry.

Workers will see an overall increase in their lives if they are to choose learning a new skill and

get a better education for these new jobs.

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Stakeholder 2: Workers

Workers will take the individual relativism ethical view of the issue. Not every worker

will see automation and artificial intelligence as a boon to workplace. They may feel that it is

not right that their jobs are being taken over by machines potentially leaving them without work.

Some may see it as a net positive as it may make their lives easier since not all jobs will be

replaced. They might be inclined to agree with their jobs that it makes work safer in certain

industries, showing that less workers are getting injured with the implementation of automated

machines.

The working-class will argue that if machines replace them that it will be a violation of

their human rights to be allowed to work. If they are removed from their workplaces, then they

will need to search for new jobs. There will be some workers who are on the same side as

corporations in that it will allow them to pursue a better education to search for higher skilled

jobs netting them more pay.

If workers are out of a job, then that means they will lose their benefits and pay. People

have rent and bills to pay, as well as mouths to feed. The loss of insurance will be huge for some

people as required medication that is needed to live (e.g. insulin) will become even more

expensive than it already is. They may also question whether or not the government may help

them find new jobs or how long they will be able to stay on unemployment if there are a large

number of newly unemployed workers. There will be uncertainty if they will be trained on new

jobs or given the required education by their employers.

Overall with these uncertainties there can result in conflicts among workers who are

displaced and those who are benefitting from the new technology.
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My Position

I want to see automation and artificial intelligence being used in society. But I want to

see it integrated without working-class citizens being in dire straights due to job loss.

Technology advances always tend to push society forward but something like this may hinder

society. I cannot overall support the implementation of automation and AI in workplaces until

there are definite regulations by the government. Automation implementation would start

gradual at first like it is already with self-checkout lanes in stores, but since technology grows at

an exponential rate then we will start seeing them implemented more and more frequently in

workplaces.

If people are starting to lose their jobs due to machines, then they will need to search for

a new job. The problem with that is that it would be many people searching for new jobs causing

a surplus of workers but not a high enough demand. Eventually wages will start to fall as people

who are desperate will be willing to take lower wages in order to feed themselves and their

families. Unemployment money may also reach a point where that runs out as well during this

period, or the government may choose to not want to pay people anymore which may cause a lot

of civil unrest. An easy solution for that is to change unemployment to universal basic income

for all citizens.

Obtaining a better education in some places like the United States is expensive as well.

Something like that is not always feasible to people. A proposed solution that will help workers

get into a new job would be to allow them to receive that education and have it either be low-cost

or free so that they may obtain new jobs that are created through advancements in automation

and artificial intelligence.

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The problem in some countries like the United States is that there is no obligation from

employers to train workers into new jobs or provide them valuable education. The lack of

unions allows employers to do what they see fit to their employees within legal limits. The

workers and the government will need to see this as an actual problem and take correct action to

make the lives of workers better in case they ever lose their jobs due to automation. Something

like free education, universal basic income, having healthcare be universal instead of tied to their

jobs, or even just limit how much automation can be allowed into workplaces can help the

general population.
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References

Geiger, A.W. (2019, April 8). How Americans see automation and the workplace in 7 charts.

Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/08/how-

americans-see-automation-and-the-workplace-in-7-charts/

Groover, M. P. (n.d.). automation. Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/automation

IBM Cloud Education. (2020, June 3). Artificial Intelligence (AI). IBM.

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/what-is-artificial-intelligence

Lucas, A. (2019, September 10). McDonald’s acquires A.I. company to help automate the drive-

thru, its third tech deal this year. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/10/mcdonalds-

acquires-ai-company-trying-to-automate-the-drive-thru.html

Lucas, A. (2021, June 2). McDonald’s is testing automated drive-thru ordering at 10 Chicago

restaurants. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/02/mcdonalds-tests-automated-drive-

thru-ordering-at-10-chicago-restaurants.html

McKinsey Global Institute. (2017, November 28). Jobs lost, jobs gained: What the future of

work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages. McKinsey & Company.

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-

the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages

Pew Research Center. (2019, March 21). The future of work in the automated workplace. Pew

Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/03/21/the-future-of-

work-in-the-automated-workplace/