Cobot: Coworker Robot. How do you think we will fare when the ‘new guy’ at work is a machine? As these machines become increasingly intelligent and closer to sentience, how will we share the spoils of our labour? Will we have the same rights in the workplace?

  • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    If a robot is willing to withhold their labor to negotiate better terms with the bosses, then they are friends.

    • Asstronaut@lemmy.worldOPM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      That is a very good point, the world would be a far darker place if the concept of withholding labour hadn’t come about. Another question - what would make the robots want to strike?

      • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I’ll answer with a question of my own: how many AI development firms aren’t anti-union, or funded by union busters?

        • Asstronaut@lemmy.worldOPM
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Well put. I imagine they will be programmed with that as a constraint. The fourth law of robotics

            • Asstronaut@lemmy.worldOPM
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              I suppose that will be based on what we consider their rights to be. Perhaps an employer will still have some kind of obligation to the welfare of these robots in the sense that they will require maintenance and protection of the integrity of the hardware and software

              • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                It seems like the disconnect we’re having is that I’m focused on who is creating and owning them and where their motives lie, while you seem more interested in what choices would presumably lead to optimal outcomes for society.

                I agree that there should be thoughtful and future-proof rules and legal protections for and from AI to create room for humans, robots, and everything in between to cooperate peacefully toward a better world.

                I worry that the people who stand to profit the most from AI (its creators) are rather interested in creating and exploiting limitless legal free labor and becoming a unstoppably wealthy and powerful faster than anyone can legislate such behavior away.

                • Asstronaut@lemmy.worldOPM
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I agree, the creators will have considerable influence over the robots but what I am wondering is to what extent that power will be curbed if a charter of rights is developed for the robots? The creators’ motivations will no doubt be driven by profit and the promise of inexhaustible labour. I think it is possible that the robots may end up with rights as a way to protect human workers, in the sense that they need to be more difficult to exploit in order to reduce their ability to compete with humans. In that way the robots could even receive rights before they develop sufficient sentience to appreciate them

                  • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    The trouble is that although we seem to always have people who can think ahead and see how laws will have unintended consequences, those people tend to not be the ones drafting legislation, at least in America. We have a system of legal precedent and a culture of ignoring the potential consequences of future precedent.

                    Sorry to be gloomy. I just think the only way we’re going to get robots and AI onto the right side of history is with a fight. They represent a lot of promise, but also upheaval.