There’s been a lot of talk lately on artificial intelligence and how it will affect our future, especially when it comes to job automation. In the past, companies were outsourcing to China, now they’re outsourcing to robots and AI.
So… What do you think are the chances of your type of work being replaced by robots/AI? And how are you preparing yourself for that?
Strangely, as more and more automation came into the early factories, more and more low-paid child workers were also found in them. (I just read that recently.)
Web design is becoming more automated these days, and things like thegrid.io are promising to place AI front and center or web design (we’ll see how that goes, though).
I’m sure the landscape for all industries will continue to evolve as technology develops, but it still takes humans to run this world, so they will be needed somewhere.
According to the many articles I read, a lot of jobs will be automated. They say that automation and software may even replace people like doctors and lawyers so none of us are safe here. That being said, there are some things that only humans can do and robots are not capable of. Jobs that require intuition and creativity can’t be done by robots for example. If we have to talk about web design specifically, Paul Boag published a good article about the upcoming trends in web design: http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/trends-2015-101413303. Here is an excerpt:
For example, services like FreeAgent are replacing traditional book keepers. In fact SaaS is eroding traditional models in everything from recruitment to customer management.
Unfortunately for some, web design is no exception. There was a time when self employed web designers could produce cheap websites from home and make a reasonable income. Today that is becoming hard with services like Squarespace allowing people to build their own website.
There was a time when being able to code good quality HTML and CSS was enough. That is no longer the case. Not only is there a surplus of people able to do this, the need to code is waning.
Tools like Macaw and Adobe Reflow are enabling designers to do much of the work of front-end coders. Now I know what you are thinking — these tools create terrible CSS. You are right, but they are a sign of things to come. Over time these tools will become more sophisticated. It wouldn’t surprise me if eventually hand coding HTML and CSS becomes a skill few still need.
Although these tools will never produce code as good as a person, it will be good enough.