I just replaced myself with a chatbot for a week!
I’m going on leave for a week, off pay, off the clock, but I still wanted a system that can answer most common questions I get from co-workers.
I threw a bunch of if statements and variables in a pot at a “click and drag” platform, and ta…da…, the simplest version of me is out there, ready for my co-workers questions.
My bot has made me ponder over more philosophical questions.
What if we become so good at automating ourselves that we don’t have to go to work?
That question may seem ridiculous now considering even the brightest of chatbots are just a heap of “if” statements and keyword-triggered wisdoms.
But as we perfect the art of automated conversation and conversational interfaces, we might end up doing half the work for twice the salary.
Or………….
What if our employers decide that we only get pay for the human labour we put in to our day and deduct our salary for anything that an automated system has done?
What if our employers decide to hire automation specialists that map our conversations and behaviour and create a copy of us for our employers thus cutting down on our hours?
In Sweden all email conversation and documentation is public domain if you work for a public sector office (as long as it doesn’t contain information about patients). So technically it CAN be done. My answers can be automated by a skilled designer!
Interesting questions, and interesting legal and work-union issues for the future!
For now, I’m not particularly worried. We’ll give it a week and see what happens. I’ve taken time off so my experiment is off the clock.
And……..If an If statement can make me obsolete, maybe I wasn’t that good to begin with.
