Automatic for the people? Experts predict how AI will transform the workplace

Workplaces should use automation technologies to enhance employees' jobs rather than to replace humans, according to speakers at an event held by the Guardian on 11 July. However, they saw problems in the introduction of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, the latter including software as well as physical machines. "Humans should not worry too much about replacement, but need to find new ways to work together with AI," said Chelsea Chen, co-founder of Emotech, a company which makes a voice-operated device called Olly that aims to recognise users' emotions as well the content of speech. Chen said that human employees are likely to remain better at dealing with people's emotions than computers. She says Olly can express excitement in response to what a user says, but that does not make it conscious: "Any job which is highly relevant to people will be really hard to replace."