From The Terminator to Chappie, we’ve been flooded by dystopian predictions of robot take overs. But forget fictional war machines, Oxford university has shaken the working world with a study predicting that the developments in AI pose a real threat to our jobs.

The panic has now ensued, with everyone fearing unemployment due to robot overlords. However, here at Arch we’re not nearly so overdramatic, and we’re confident that the troubling statistics aren’t exactly what they seem.

Good sense and history tells us that even if, in the 20 years that the Oxford study predicts, robots overtake 35% of UK jobs, that doesn’t equate to 35% of people being jobless. 100 years ago, before the tractor and the combine harvester, 50% of the population had jobs in agriculture, but with those inventions it is now only 1%.

For marketing and design agencies, before the massive boom in industry and business, there weren’t many of us, but the changes in our economy created a need. In the same way that advances in education has led to more teachers, and the improvements in health care has led to more carers.

Robots are proof of our increasing intellect, as a product and a cause of it, because with their invention time-consuming tasks are eliminated and other pursuits can be explored. Yes, the robots are getting smarter, but humans are as well.

And there are some jobs that even the best AI can’t do, that require a human touch. According to the researchers at Oxford, marketing and creative design jobs are only at 1% in the “likelihood of automation.” In order to scope out personas, nurture leads, create valuable content and understand what will make a successful campaign, you need social intelligence and creativity; an ability to be flexible and improvise.

We use computers every day, but we’re not robots!

ill-be-back-terminator