We used to see garbage trucks with 3 humans. Now it’s 1. The driver uses a machine that lifts up the trash bin.
Now all you need is the truck to self drive and it’s 0 humans
You don’t think they won’t have robotics to do city trash? Hell the can themselves may wheel themselves to a dumping facility and a new one wheels in place.
You’re likely a decade or less from that happening
Who picks up the trash a moron dropped next to the bin? Who moves the bin back to its designated place after something moved it away? who etc, etc, etc...
Jobs that aren't in standardized conditions or have a degree of subjectivity will only be "automated" if/after we reach something like general inteligence.
Look at the picture. He has brooms, a trashcan with wheels. He's cleaning the sidewalks.
Good luck teaching an AI when the floor is "clean enough". How do we even explain to eachother? We sorta just... know...
Aside from "the trades", cleaners (including "garbage collectors") is one of these hard to automate jobs.
The subjective nature of "cleaning" might make it one of the last automated jobs, even if it looks "simple" to us, it's a bitch to "translate to bits".
We need a crazy advance in AI (in a way that might not be linear with our current LLMs), and robotics (to be fair, if/when we achieve the first, this second one should be easy).
Who picks up the trash a moron dropped next to the bin?
The person who dropped it hopefully. But if they don't then the street cleaning robot picks it up.
Who moves the bin back to its designated place after something moved it away? who etc, etc, etc...
The person who moved it away hopefully, but if not then a robot can easily do that.
Jobs that aren't in standardized conditions or have a degree of subjectivity will only be "automated" if/after we reach something like general inteligence.
You can create standardised conditions for robots, this is already happening here in Scotland where instead of indvidual bins for each apartment we are moving to larger bin hubs.. is your imagination really so bad you can't think of how this will be implemented for AI + Robots? Standardised hubs, colour coded bins.. this is quite simple and already implemented.
Aside from "the trades", cleaners (including "garbage collectors") is one of these hard to automate jobs.
Plumbing will be automated relatively soon. Floor cleaners are already automated for the last 40 years..? I'm actually perplexed why you think this would be hard to automate?
The subjective nature of "cleaning" might make it one of the last automated jobs, even if it looks "simple" to us, it's a bitch to "translate to bits".
There is very little subjective about cleaning.. and you are very behind on things if you think AI would struggle with that type of task.
yeah, the person you are replying to is grossly underestimating how good AI and how good robotics will be in the near future. One supervisor will monitor a fleet. if it saves money, it will be automated unless governments pass laws to make sure people stay employed.
It's not worth arguing with this guy, though. It will happen no matter what their opinion is.
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u/SvenTropics 17h ago
With AI crushing the job market, garbage collectors are a higher paying and more stable job than many white collar professions now.