Owlchemy Labs
Here's what working might be like when robots take over.
- I joined a virtual reality world that showed me what work is like after robots take over in 2050.
- After reporting doom-and-gloom stories about how automation will lead to lay offs and low pay, I found this humorous virtual reality of work surprisingly pleasant.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Since joining Business Insider a month ago, I've written a lot about how robots are changing work.
Automation could wipe out 1.3 million bank jobs in the next 10 years. New technologies are partly to blame for declining wage growth. Companies are investing in retraining programs to prepare employees for when robots take their jobs.
Instead of studying what could possibly happen when robots take over, I decided to flip the script and let robots tell me themselves. In other words, I played the virtual reality game "Job Simulator," where robots in the year 2050 try to guess what work was like when humans were in charge.
Read more: Robots could wipe out 1.3 million Wall Street jobs in the next 10 years
Robots taught me how to do three jobs: be a chef, work a cash register, and perform mundane office tasks. While I've held one of those roles, I can say with certainty that robots of 2050 did not have a great understanding of the nuances of human labor. My first stint at virtual reality also included a lot of technical problems that Business Insider gaming reporter Kevin Webb patiently tried to sort through.
Here's what happened when I tried to learn what working would be like after complete automation.