I know AI is the hottest investment trend since they legalized pot, but I think we're all a little unnerved by it.
The deepfakes AI-generated photos and videos that feel uncomfortably real...
The notion that it could end up doing our thinking and creating for us, effectively making us the robots...
Even the people developing it say it could lead to our extinction.
I don't want that.
I don't think anybody (short of the most nihilistic among us) does.
I just want a robot that can vacuum my house...
Or a robot that will take out the trash.
I want a robot that can bring me a beer while I watch football...
You know, a wife.
Kidding. I'm married, and, while I do chip in around the house, it's nothing compared with what my wife does.
And that's why I want these things for her, too.
I want a world where we're both liberated from our mundane chores and free to spend that time with each other instead, doing things we enjoy.
Or how about robots that make our jobs easier?
Robots that do the hard, backbreaking labor that drives so many humans to an early grave.
Robots like these...
They're made by a company called Agility Robotics, and all they're doing is moving bins from a shelf to a conveyor belt.
It's a job that could theoretically be done by humans, but there's just one problem...
No one wants to do it.
The warehousing sector is one of many industries these days that's coping with widespread labor shortages.
Nearly three-quarters of our country's warehouse operators say they can't find enough workers.
There are roughly half a million unfilled warehouse jobs in the U.S. today, and that figure is expected to rise to more than 2 million by 2030.
And if not for robot workers, we'd be in a full-on crisis because almost 3 million industrial robots have already been put to work in warehouses throughout the country.
More are still needed.
And that's true of almost every industry out there.
Everywhere you look, there are labor shortages.
Hotels, restaurants, construction sites, retail chains, finance...
You name it.
That's why, even if you don't work in a warehouse, you've probably noticed more robots popping up.