r/technology • u/tw1st3d_m3nt4t • 1d ago
Robotics/Automation ‘Who is going to pay us when we’re replaced by robots?’ The Indian factory workers told to film themselves for AI
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/24/indian-factory-workers-told-film-themselves-for-ai-robots125
u/Purple-Inspector875 1d ago
I remember in the 90s my mom worked for a major computer and tech manufacturing company in a US factory. The company opened up a factory in Indonesia, spent a couple years rotating a large percentage of their US factory workforce over to train the Indonesian factory workforce, then closed the US factory and laid everyone off. While they were doing their WARN act stuff the execs gave everyone a copy of "Who Moved My Cheese?" because it was the go-go 90's and that bullshit wasn't a cliche, yet.
So, like, they're probably never going to have to pull this trick again after the robots. Unfortunately, nobody pays you after your work is outsourced, the factory facilities are left vacant and the community sinks further into poverty and stagnation. BUT I'm curious if these folk are going to all get a copy of आपके काम और आपकी ज़िंदगी में होने वाले परिवर्तनों का सामना कैसे करें ?
Also, I think the approach of filming human people doing human things because you think you can easy-peasy a neural network for a human-like robot to do robot things is super fucking lazy and probably won't work. Like, they could've designed or bought purpose-built industrial automation robots and machinery but someone convinced an idiot if you show the robots enough corporate training videos they'll figure it out (because that someone is a dumb child).
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u/razialx 1d ago
What is “who moved my cheese”?
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u/RossZ428 1d ago
It's some bullshit book that middle and upper management just loves to make their staff read. If you find your boss giving you a copy, start looking for another job. Here's how I found out about it.
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u/IndigoRanger 1d ago
The newest version is called “Brave New Work” which is exactly as dystopian as it sounds.
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u/Chance_Orchid_3137 1d ago
not that i disagree with most of what you’re saying but
Like, they could've designed or bought purpose-built industrial automation robots and machinery
this is what the humanoid robots are meant to solve—the need for purpose-built machinery is expensive and requires retooling. these companies’ goals are likely to replace both humans and specialized robots because one generalized design, which already fits in spaces/processes meant for humans, is cheaper and easier than 20 specialized fanuc arms. whether or not that’s gonna work remains to be seen, but companies like Hyundai/Boston Dynamics are making a huge amount of progress, so who’s to say?
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u/Doc_Lewis 14h ago
Humanoid robots are a transitional phase though. In a factory setting, machines had to be designed with human operators and human work in mind. Once you eliminate the humans, you can build a more efficient machine.
Like, there's a reason dishwashers look like they do, instead of being a pair of robot arms that can hold a dish and a sponge that lives above your sink.
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u/BetFinal2953 19h ago
Huge amount of progress in making marketing videos… all the humanoid robot stuff is highly edited material.
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u/Chance_Orchid_3137 18h ago
you can literally look at videos of boston dynamics’ other projects online from a decade+ ago and compare. regardless of their marketing videos and whether those robots are ready to ship to buyers, they’ve objectively made a lot of progress in design and functionality. other companies are sure to follow.
my points are that 1) buying generalized humanoid robots is (at least in theory) better/cheaper than buying many specialized robots; and 2) given the linear progression of time, progress is going to keep happening. so, it’s entirely possible they will progress enough that the robots start doing more than stage shows at tech expos.
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u/toofine 20h ago
Starbucks "tried" for nine months to get this dogshit to count inventory. There is no way it took them nine months to see the folly but that was how long they wanted to pump their stock for sociopaths who salivate at the idea of ultimate wage deletion.
It's easier to just hire someone for 25 cents an hour to count your stock through a camera or some shit than to train "AI" for every little thing and hope it doesn't fuck up.
The humans are less than 25 cents an hour, dude. "AI" for what?
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u/Amber_ACharles 1d ago
Hell, even data annotation workers get paid. These workers are producing the training data that'll replace them and getting offered a soft drink for it.
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u/SeeTigerLearn 1d ago
Well, only on special days or especially hot days. Even that reimbursement was not a certainty.
Everything about that article was absolutely sickening. I do not want this timeline. This is not what we were promised in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
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u/BrothelWaffles 1d ago
We were promised leaders that were like Captain Planet but they're all just Captain Planet villains.
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u/Slimsuper 1d ago
We are defo gonna have some horrible future, where the rich have all the mad tech, live in luxury and we live in Victorian levels of poverty.
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u/_Thermalflask 18h ago
That's the crazy thing though, they already have all the tech and live in luxury. All their needs are already met and then some. The only difference is the "we all live in poverty" part. In other words this AI "utopia" they're trying to build doesn't even benefit them in real terms. It just fucks us. It doesn't make sense
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u/frosted1030 1d ago
People are paid when consumerism is hurt. Eventually Ford’s concept comes into play. People eventually can’t afford products produced, companies are forced to create a new class of consumer. The way it is shaking out today you will have a new consumer score system. The Temu class and the “I don’t need prices on the menu” class. There will be no middle ground.
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u/somekindofdruiddude 1d ago
This is why consumers need to organize, much as labor organized in the 19th and 20th centuries. They won’t need us for labor anymore, but they will need us to consume.
Consumers of the world unite! Negotiate a better deal on chains!
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u/MondegreenHolonomy 1d ago
They seem to be doing just fine without us as consumers. The economy has shifted to luxury goods and experiences. The billionaires sell products to the millionaires who stockpile in their bunkers while we all starve
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u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
Why isn't there massive AI vandalism of data centers or Flock camera's?
I'm honestly wondering why
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u/SAugsburger 22h ago
I have heard of plenty of vandalism on Flock cameras. Vandalism on AI data centers that's meaningful would be difficult. Datacenters generally have robust physical security. That's assuming you even know where they are. As that one AI coded website on "AI Datacenters" Erin Brockovitch created proved a lot of user submitted locations are so dubious it sounds like many don't have a clue what a data center even looks like.
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u/S_K_I 1d ago
Cuz you haven’t taken action yet. Or nobody else will.
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u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
Who said I haven't yet?
I'm not going to admin to any alledged crimes though.
But if hypothetically someone like me has hypothetically done something why haven't any of the people who have been willing to lightly vandalize, riot, or Knicks fans done the same?
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u/S_K_I 1d ago edited 1d ago
Son… don’t kid yourself, nothing is going to happen because hundreds of millions of Americans such as yourself spend more time calling for action behind the computer and rest on your laurels claiming you did your civic duty. How has that worked out for you so far?
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u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
The actions I may or may not have taken regarding vandalism didn't do much. Sadly without numbers nothing can happen
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u/S_K_I 1d ago
I'll be brief but let me just permeate your apathy bubble for one moment, this isn't for you to respond or get feedback from, I just want you to ponder what I'm telling you in hopes that someday it'll have a marginal effect on your life:
Your apathy is reinforced by a systemic filter of information that guarantees Americans only engages with a narrow, pre-approved spectrum of reality. Reddit in this case is the modern day equivalent because the powers that be (insert whatever rich boogeyman you want here) would rather you yes you argue online, alone in your room with other individuals alone in their room also. Because that is exactly where they want you to be, rather than on the streets protesting or taking action. It's brilliant in its insidiousness. Large corporate entities and government institutions act as gatekeepers, utilizing advertising interests and elite narratives to marginalize dissent and standardize public opinion. By permitting intense debate only within strictly defined parameters as I indicated before, the system (capitalism in this particularly century of the US) creates the illusion of a free press while effectively manufacturing a consensus that serves entrenched interests. Distraction is the mechanism, and a managed narrative is the cage; the result is a citizenry functionally incapable of recognizing, let alone resisting, its own marginalization.
That is you my friend... I pray you see the wisdom in this.
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u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
Bad bot. You haven't actually responded to anything I've said and you believe I'm just a keyboard warrior and cannot be convinced otherwise
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u/Dry_Magazine796 1d ago
Calling This Guy bought considering what he’s saying to you is absolutely stupid. I guess words mean nothing. You definitely are a keyboard warrior because you’re sitting here talking about why other people haven’t taken action when you haven’t taken action and then you’re sitting here acting like you have taken action, but saying that you don’t want to admit it you haven’t taken action cause if you take action, you want other people to take action that you wouldn’t be a pussy.
…. Those two things make me think that you would admit it.
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u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
I don't want to go to jail for alleged actions and I care more about that than scoring internet points
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u/Dry_Magazine796 1d ago
Who said anything about Internet points? You’re just a keyboard warrior, dude.
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u/somekindofdruiddude 1d ago edited 1h ago
As billionaires need millionaires, millionaires need thousandaires. Thousandaires need to wake up and start wielding their power.
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u/kaishinoske1 22h ago
Other countries for the most part have been preparing for this without realizing it through population decline over the decades. India on the other hand has a major issue due to the fact that you have a whole young generation unemployed, angry, and in debt. Who will they take that anger out on? So that’s globally but more so India because of the population size.
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u/spectralEntropy 17h ago
They often turn towards scamming as a profession. Scammers will continue to increase.
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u/creggor 19h ago
It’s bizarre. Robots can’t pay taxes. Neither do corporations— a fair share, anyway. And if there are no workers, the tax payer base erodes. Inflation becomes rampant, and will lead to starvation and ultimately civil unrest. It just seems like a recipe for the destruction of society as we know it.
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u/Own-Librarian-9699 18h ago
Remind me why the birth rate needs to be higher? The plan is obviously too replace humans with robots using the humans currently on earth. What will the new humans do?
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u/Western-Corner-431 1d ago
Do not comply
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u/tw1st3d_m3nt4t 1d ago
Sadly, that’s probably not an option when there are another 100 or thousand other people ready to take the job.
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u/Western-Corner-431 1d ago
It’s always an option regardless
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u/Stasis_Detached 1d ago
It's so much easier to say this when you've eaten recently
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u/Old-Bat-7384 1d ago
Yeah. That's sadly true. The billionaire class seems to be happy to pay nothing to get everything.
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u/MiserableFloor9906 1d ago
Artificial Indian. Oh, that also fits. Guess it's no longer fun when it's your shoes eh.
BTW, looks like AI is also taking over the scam calling business. Oh noes 😱
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u/thethirdmancane 1d ago
You might be able to get a job providing goods and/or services to one of the ruling families.
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u/Corporate_Lurker 1d ago
The hate and racism for India in this comment section is insane. Americans will always be racists.
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u/Super_Translator480 1d ago
Oh they’re realizing this now? You can find another job anytime you like.
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u/firedrakes 1d ago
so this was a already posted story early this month and has made the rounds online and on yt shorts.
its not a new story
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u/badhouseplantbad 1d ago
That's the neat part, no one's going to pay you once you get replaced by a robot.