{"id":3455,"date":"2021-10-27T10:36:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T08:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/27\/big-techs-push-for-automation-hides-the-grim-reality-of-microwork-phil-jones\/"},"modified":"2021-10-27T10:36:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T08:36:36","slug":"big-techs-push-for-automation-hides-the-grim-reality-of-microwork-phil-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/27\/big-techs-push-for-automation-hides-the-grim-reality-of-microwork-phil-jones\/","title":{"rendered":"Big tech\u2019s push for automation hides the grim reality of \u2018microwork\u2019 | Phil Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The pandemic accelerated the rise of this digital piecework where humans support AI<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phil Jones is the author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When customers in the London borough of Hackney shop in the new Amazon Fresh store, they no longer pay a checkout operator but simply walk out with their goods. Amazon describes \u201cjust walk out shopping\u201d as an effortless consumer experience. The rise of automated stores during the pandemic is just the tip of the iceberg. Floor-cleaning robots have been introduced in hospitals, supermarkets and schools. Fast-food restaurants are employing <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2020\/10\/27\/white-castle-rolls-out-more-robots-from-miso-robotics-to-cook-in-its-kitchens\/\">burger-grilling robots<\/a> and chatbots. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/pandemic-pushes-chinese-tech-giants-roll-out-more-courier-robots-2021-09-27\/\">delivery bots<\/a> are being rolled out at an accelerated pace. As Anuja Sonalker, chief executive of Steer Tech, a tech company specialising in self-parking, ominously <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/05\/08\/andrew-cuomo-eric-schmidt-coronavirus-tech-shock-doctrine\/\">said last year<\/a>: \u201cHumans are biohazards, machines are not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the realisation that machines are immune to viruses and social distancing, we have seen the return of an apocalyptic consensus: according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-54622189\">one recent prediction<\/a>, as many as half of all work tasks are at risk of automation by 2025. Such gloomy forecasts conjure a world where robots do all the work and humans are consigned to history\u2019s dustbin.<\/p>\n<p>Phil Jones is the author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2021\/oct\/27\/big-techs-push-for-automation-hides-the-grim-reality-of-microwork\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c83c2277708ac44880857a63917d60b7936c4b79\/0_80_9504_5702\/master\/9504.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=22579e87c0a1032732d86d352c6bb88f\" title=\"Big tech\u2019s push for automation hides the grim reality of \u2018microwork\u2019 | Phil Jones\" \/>The pandemic accelerated the rise of this digital piecework where humans support AI<br \/>\nPhil Jones is the author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism<br \/>\nWhen customers in the London borough of Hackney shop in the new Amazon Fresh store, they no longer pay a checkout operator but simply walk out with their goods. Amazon describes \u201cjust walk out shopping\u201d as an effortless consumer experience. The rise of automated stores during the pandemic is just the tip of the iceberg. Floor-cleaning robots have been introduced in hospitals, supermarkets and schools. Fast-food restaurants are employing burger-grilling robots and chatbots. And delivery bots are being rolled out at an accelerated pace. As Anuja Sonalker, chief executive of Steer Tech, a tech company specialising in self-parking, ominously said last year: \u201cHumans are biohazards, machines are not.\u201d<br \/>\nWith the realisation that machines are immune to viruses and social distancing, we have seen the return of an apocalyptic consensus: according to one recent prediction, as many as half of all work tasks are at risk of automation by 2025. Such gloomy forecasts conjure a world where robots do all the work and humans are consigned to history\u2019s dustbin.<br \/>\nPhil Jones is the author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The pandemic accelerated the rise of this digital piecework where humans support AI Phil Jones is the author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism When customers in the London borough of Hackney shop in the new Amazon Fresh store, they no longer pay a checkout operator but simply walk &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/27\/big-techs-push-for-automation-hides-the-grim-reality-of-microwork-phil-jones\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Big tech\u2019s push for automation hides the grim reality of \u2018microwork\u2019 | Phil Jones<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}