5 reasons why humanoid robots will never take your job

It feels like we're on the brink of a world filled with robots that look, act and talk like people (and that will take our jobs). It's a myth.

Human-like robots are poised to enter the workforce and take all our jobs away any day now, right?

Uh… not even close. We are decades away from having human-like robots living and working amongst us.

Consider the most recent robot to enter the workforce: Hyundai today rolled out an AI-powered customer-service robot for car dealerships. Called DAL-e, the 4-foot tall robot is being deployed in South Korean car dealerships.

DAL-e boasts face recognition for remembering customers. And its function is to answer questions. In other words, it’s a kiosk on wheels. Yes, it can “navigate” (no double slowly and haltingly around on a perfectly smooth surface). Then, once identifying a customer, basically perform the same function as any automated customer service phone center. Yes, they molded plastic to give it “arms” that gesture. And it’s “face” is pictures on screens.

Not exactly “West World.”

Also, and more to the point: DAL-e isn’t taking a job. In fact, it takes extra work and personnel at Hyundai to keep these things rolling.

In fact, customer service is where most of the humanoid robots are going. For many years, companies have worked hard to create robots with facial expression, blinking eyes and moving mouths when they talk. The more sophisticated they are, the more they enter the dreaded “uncanny valley.” It takes so much engineering, compute power and mechanical ingenuity just to create a head, moving face and vaguely believable interaction that most of these robots end up answering customer questions in hotels and other venues. They’re just heads on fake upper-body torsos.

The technology is so off-putting that when the creators of the HBO series “Silicon Valley” wanted a creepy robot torso named “Fiona” for the show, they couldn’t find an actual existing robot that could fill the role.

Instead, they filmed an actress and used the California studio Barnstorm VFX to make the human look, act and talk like a robot. They used extremely sophisticated effects to make Fiona’s eye blinking, mouth movements and head turns look believably robotic.

The closest thing to a real-life “Fiona” is a robot called Sophia. First shown off in 2016. The company plans to “mass produce” robots this year — four models, including Sophia.

As you can see from these videos, the fake clunky awkward robot in “Silicon Valley” is light years ahead of the real fake clunky awkward robot from Hansen Robotics.

But wait, you say: What about those amazing Boston Dynamics robots that can walk and run and even dance?

Yes, the Boston Dynamics robots are amazing. They’re built with the physical mechanics of people animals for two reasons: 1) for compatibility with the spaces and objects built for humans (for example, a human-sized and -shaped robot could sit in the passenger seat of a car and put on the seatbelt); and 2) because nature is better at designing things than humans are.

Today, robots tend to have the ability to interact with humans or they tend to have a physical body that can roam around in the real world. But rarely both.

If a robot has a somewhat lifelike face, it doesn’t have a body that can walk around. If it has a body that can walk around, it can only do so for a short time before needing gas or a re-charge.

Robots are already adding billions or trillions of dollars in value each year in a wide range of industries, from manufacturing to healthcare. They’ll be used increasingly for telepresence, science and a hundred other applications.

And I stand in awe of the achievements in robots over the past few decades. It’s amazing what robots can do.

So where’s the myth?

The myth is the idea that a humanoid AI robot will live amongst us and take your job. Here are the 5 reasons why that belief is false:

1. Robots that take jobs — especially factory manufacturing robots — are not, and will not be, humanoid in function or appearance. They’re big bulky monstrosities bolted to the floor.

2. Robots that are humanoid in function and appearance do not and will not anytime soon do actual work that any human wants to do. They’ll thrill and amaze children at hotels and Disney World and function as novelties, but they won’t actually do work.

3. Actual AI intelligent agents that serve as assistants, researchers or interfaces need not have a body at all, especially not a human one.

4. Humanoid robots are undesirable. People hate that creepy “uncanny valley” feeling, and so human-like robots would be rejected by the public.

5. The technology for actually human-like mobility is decades away.

To re-cap. The robots that are human-like will not take jobs. And the robots that take jobs will not be human like.

It’s not at all that I lack appreciation for the sophistication and elegance of robots. I’m here to point out that a public that believes humans will soon be plausibly simulated lacks appreciation for the sophistication and elegance of humans.

The belief in the imminence of humanoid robots entering the workforce is a myth. It’s just not going to happen in our lifetimes.