Company cuts costs by replacing 60-strong writing team with AI

[Deathdealers747]

I'm curious to see AI Replace Firefighters. I can see it now... "One life is not worth $150,000 in staff costs; therefore, we will be replacing Firefighters with AI Robots and Self-Driving Firetrucks where the goal is to stop the spread of the fire, not to save the lives of those in the building." I realize that chart was supposed to include roles that wouldn't be replaced by AI, but Firefighters only got 4.3%. Heck, Dentists scored higher than Firefighters at 6.1%. Then, ironically, the "Chief Executives" got a -7.3%.

 

[mbk34]

It's the robotic dentists that I fear

 

[Endymio]

I can see it now... "One life is not worth $150,000 in staff costs; therefore, we will be replacing Firefighters with AI Robots and Self-Driving Firetrucks where the goal is to stop the spread of the fire, not to save the lives of those in the building."

What sort of nonsense is this? Human firefighters can die in a building just as easily as bystanders, and when a fire is raging and the structure unstable, humans often can't enter. A robot can. This innovation will save lives and better control the spread of large fires.

 

[Deathdealers747]

What sort of nonsense is this? Human firefighters can die in a building just as easily as bystanders, and when a fire is raging and the structure unstable, humans often can't enter. A robot can. This innovation will save lives and better control the spread of large fires.

And what do you do when the Robot malfunctions and have to an Engineer in to save the robot in order to save the life of a person - when the Engineer in question has no Firefighter training what-so-ever? Unless that Robot can handle the heat and dangerousness of a Volcano, then I wouldn't trust it. After all, if Robots are supposed to do what we can't, then that should be the minimum threshold, imo.

 

[Endymio]

And what do you do when the Robot malfunctions and have to an Engineer in to save the robot in order to save the life of a person - when the Engineer in question has no Firefighter training what-so-ever?

If the robot malfunctions, you activate the backup, of course. When a human firefighter, however, "malfunctions" in the middle of an inferno, you lose the life of the firefighter as well.

Your post is like suggesting that, after extracting a victim from a blaze, the firefighter should throw them over his shoulder and trot off on foot five miles to the local hospital. After all-- what if the ambulance malfunctioned on the way?

Unless that Robot can handle the heat and dangerousness of a Volcano, then I wouldn't trust it

We already have robots that can handle temperatures of several hundred degrees, noxious atmospheres filled with toxic fumes, and radiation levels that would instantly kill a human.

 

[mbk34]

Robotic fire fighters are probably beyond our current technology but it's obvious that current systems along with human fire fighters aren't capable of dealing with fires in very tall buildings. 9/11 showed how fire fighting technology needs to catch up with building technology. Ladders don't reach, water doesn't reach, lifts don't work and fire fighters can't be expected to climb 110 floors with equipment and then do a job.

That doesn't mean you need human styled robots climbing stairs but you could design self powered "capsules" that could go up and down lift shafts extracting a couple of people at a time people. They could take fire fighters in order to triage who gets sent down first. Equipment and replacement battery packs could also be sent up. You could even have standardised rails running up the corners of tall buildings allowing such devices to go up and down. It's a little bit futuristic but easily achievable and would allow tall buildings to be evacuated without having to rely on stairs or lifts.

 

[VectorVortec]

looking at the graph in the article, the medical specialists will be the ones with a work.
All the hype bubbles are going to fall, eventually.

That is pure optimism!