沃爾瑪上個月宣布，正在部署數千臺機器人“智能助手”，引發了人們對人工智能和自動化會影響美國勞動力就業的又一輪擔憂。作為美國最大的雇主，沃爾瑪表示，到明年2月，預計將在近2000家門店安裝自動拖地機，此外還將投放少量機器人用于庫存掃描。

大量公司大手筆投資人工智能和自動化讓很多行業的員工都開始懷疑，自己的崗位是不是下一批被取代的。答案是不太可能，有以下兩個原因。

首先，工作崗位不會消失；它們只不過是會發展成為以客戶為中心的崗位?！拔覀兊膯T工立刻就認識到，新技術讓他們有機會得到解放，毋需再繼續從事重復性強、可預測的體力勞動。”沃爾瑪的中央運營高級副總裁說，“因此，他們有時間專注于銷售商品、服務客戶，公司員工告訴我們說這一直是零售業中最讓人興奮的工作?！?/p>

人工智能技術其實已經在銷售界得到了成功應用。通常情況下，銷售代表要花更多時間研究客戶而不是簽下訂單。現在，人工智能可以為銷售代表提供支持，幫助他們了解應當將時間主要集中在什么地方才能完成銷售任務。算法可以整理客戶的歷史信息、社交媒體發帖以及客戶互動歷史，根據他們成功簽下訂單的可能性對收集到的線索進行排名，從而幫助銷售團隊增加收入。銷售代表簽下的訂單越多，他們的工作就越有保障。

這也引出了我們無需因為人工智能恐慌的第二個原因：從根本上說，人工智能和機器學習是有利的，歷史已經證明了這或許可以提高對工作崗位的保障。還記得第一臺自動取款機嗎？當時世界各地的銀行出納員都做好了最壞的打算。但因為自動取款機最大限度地降低了運營成本，反而讓銀行能夠開設更多的分支機構，因此，從1970年到2010年，銀行出納員的就業人數從30萬增加到60萬，大致翻了一番。同樣的，當年的白領也擔心等到計算機成為辦公室的標配裝備時，自己會失業。現在，大多數人都可以輕松使用各類電子技術，高效工作。

埃森哲的一份報告稱，信息通信、制造業和金融服務業會成為因為引入人工智能實現最多經濟增長的行業，這主要得益于人為錯誤的減少，這類錯誤在基礎財務報告和查詢等日常重復性工作中較為常見。

盡管如此，企業員工對人工智能的擔憂是真實存在的，不可忽視。公司應該開誠布公地溝通一下人工智能和自動化會對企業就業產生的影響，提前贏得員工隊伍的信任。提升員工技能也很重要。例如，輝瑞正在與Concerto HealthAI合作，幫助完善（而不是取代）研究人員的研究設計，以便加快試驗速度。

也許已故的微軟聯合創始人保羅·艾倫說得最好：“人工智能和計算機科學帶來的好處通常遠遠超過它可能對某些工作崗位產生的影響。同樣，雖然飛機的發明對鐵路行業產生了負面影響，但它為人類進步打開了一扇更寬敞的大門。”

也許現在社會上破壞力最大的不是人工智能，而是我們對未知的集體恐懼？通過擁抱人工智能提供的無限可能性，我們可能會發現，雖然工作崗位的范圍和性質發生了變化，但個人的職業比以往任何時候都更有保障，也更有成就感。（財富中文網）

穆尼爾·曼德維瓦拉是坦普爾大學商業和信息技術研究所的副教授和執行主任。 尼拉杰·帕特爾是DMI公司的人工智能總經理。

譯者：Agatha

Walmart’s announcement last month that it’s deploying thousands of robot “smart assistants” ignited fresh employment fears about the effect of artificial intelligence and automation on the American workforce. According to the largest U.S. employer, by February of next year Walmart expects to install autonomous floor scrubbers in nearly 2,000 stores, in addition to a smaller number of robots that scan inventory.

Widespread corporate investments in A.I. and automation have employees in many industries wondering, Will my job be the next to go? Here are two reasons that’s not likely.

First, jobs will not disappear; instead, they’ll evolve into more customer-focused positions. “Our associates immediately understood the opportunity for the new technology to free them up from focusing on tasks that are repeatable, predictable, and manual,” says Walmart’s senior vice president of central operations. “It allows them time to focus more on selling merchandise and serving customers, which they tell us have always been the most exciting parts of working in retail.”

A.I. technologies are already being used successfully in the sales world. The typical sales representative has classically spent much more time researching clients than actually closing deals. Now, A.I. is supporting representatives, helping them know where to focus their time to meet their quotas. Algorithms compile historical client information, along with social media posts and customer interaction history, to rank leads in the pipeline according to their chances of being closed successfully, and therefore help sales teams increase their revenue. The more deals sales reps close, the more secure their jobs become.

This leads us to the second reason not to panic over A.I.’s effect on the nature of work: A.I. and machine learning are good for the bottom line, and history shows that might improve job security in the workforce. Remember the first ATMs? Bank tellers everywhere prepared for the worst. But by minimizing operating costs, ATMs actually empowered banks to open more branches, which roughly doubled the employment of bank tellers from 300,000 to 600,000 between 1970 and 2010. Similarly, employees also feared a loss of jobs when computers became commonplace in the standard office environment. Now, most folks work hand-in-hand with digital technologies comfortably and productively.

Information and communication, manufacturing, and financial services will top the list of industries to gain economic growth as a result of A.I., thanks to a reduction in human error that tends to be found in routine and repetitive tasks, including basic financial reports and inquiries, according to a report from Accenture.

All of this said, employee anxieties over A.I. are real and cannot be ignored. Corporations should get a headstart on winning trust within their ranks through open communication about how the implementation of A.I. and automation will affect their workforces. Augmenting employees’ skills will also prove critical. For example, Pfizer is working with Concerto HealthAI to help refine (as opposed to replace) researchers’ study designs so that trials can be completed more quickly.

Perhaps the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen said it best: “The promise of artificial intelligence and computer science generally vastly outweighs the impact it could have on some jobs. In the same way that while the invention of the airplane negatively affected the railroad industry, it opened a much wider door to human progress.”

Perhaps what’s causing the most disruption within our society right now isn’t A.I., but our collective fear of the unknown? By embracing the endless possibilities A.I. has to offer, we just might find that what emerge are careers that, though altered in scope and nature, are more secure and personally fulfilling than ever before.

Munir Mandviwalla is an associate professor and the executive director of the Institute for Business and Information Technology at Temple University. Niraj Patel is the managing director of artificial intelligence at DMI.