Thoughts on the ethics of automating operations?
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If you're a publicly owned company, then I feel it's an obligation. If you're a private company, it's up to the owners.
Either way, today's Ops is in most companies are already highly automated compared to 25-20 years ago. Jobs that used to exist are now obsolete, largely due to computers.
Chief
We shouldn't be keeping jobs just for the sake of it if that's what you mean. We don't have people operating switchboards, room-size computers, tollbooths, etc. New jobs are created by the savings from that automation. The people who build and maintain it. The expansion is possible because it requires fewer people.
That depends on what's being automated, or what's meant by automation. If a process can be automated, that's usually just a function of how things go. But in a situation such as introducing AI, that can get ethically dubious. AI programs are mimics, and some have called them plagiarism engines. So using them to replicate thoughtful human work would naturally create ethical issues to consider.
No one wants to work on menial, repetitive, and brain numbing tasks. It kills the human spirit even if you get paid for it. Anyone should embrace automation. The only way it’ll threaten your job is if you stay complacent and decide not to upskill. That’s on you, not those pushing automation.
Embrace automation. You’ll be happier, more productive, and get to focus on work that truly matters to you, your bosses, and your customers.
What
My main ethical concern is how errors are treated and resolved. Some companies make it as difficult as possible to get help or address problems made by automated systems. Often, companies are okay with this because people the errors are usually in the company's favor. I think, ethically, companies who rely on automated operations NEED to have an easy way to address errors in the process.
For example, a friend was changing her name to her married name, hardly something unusual. She did everything she was required to do, but the automated systems at her bank kept sending her statements and credit cards under her old name. She called the bank and the manager of her branch told her that the problem was her fault - he assume she did something wrong - and refused to accept that the automated system was in error. She had to literally work her way to the ELT at the bank before anyone acknowledged it was the bank's error.
It is a Catch-22. Most automated systems are much more accurate and less likely to make errors than manual processes. But, when an automated system DOES have an error it is harder to get fixed.
Have you ever used an ATM or PoS terminal? A car wash?
I am a UX Designer. My whole career the products I have worked on became more efficient and took over more and more menial tasks. Often, the companies who bought our products were happy to shift work to higher value tasks - fraud detection or whatever. The catch was that many of the people doing menial jobs were not well prepared to do the higher value jobs. They didn’t have the right math or technical skills. So, in practice, they were fired and a smaller number of higher paid generally younger people replaced them. That didn’t bother me as much as whenever we made the product more efficient, our customers increased the quota for the people who worked for them. I started to wonder if we were really making things easier. If you have a menial job you need to prepare for a higher value job. GenAI is coming for your job.
Only if we entertain UBI