Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/855802
29 by Eva Rismanforoush find scary or appalling. If you picked up a pop-culture or sports magazine in the last year, chances are, you have read an article written by a bot. Deep-learning algorithms have also been introduced to the medical field, such as IBM's Watson, a program that practices patient diagnos- tics, and Enlitic's X-ray analysis system, which holds a fifty percent greater accuracy outcome than radiologists and is currently being tested in over forty clinics throughout Australia. Until now, it seemed automation only concerned the low-in- come population. But with this exponential growth in deep- learning & self-teaching algorithms, we need to start think- ing about maintaining our standard of living, our benefits and wages, while adapting to emerging technologies. The bottom line is employers will always choose the most economic busi- ness model and we need to make sure it includes labor. au·to·ma·tion ,ôde'mãSH(e)n/ noun noun: automation; plural noun: automations the use of largely automatic equipment in a system of manufacturing or other production process. "unemployment due to the spread of automation" Whether your job is purely physical, creative or both, our union as a whole should adopt a strategy going forward. WHAT IS AUTOMATION? Automation is the technique of making a process or sys- tem operate automatically. This electronically controlled operation then takes the place of human labor. When we talk about automation, most people think about Michi- gan's robotic car assembly lines as the absolute frontier. However, the first Unimate robot was commissioned in 1954 and installed at GM's factory in 1961. Today, robotic products and service bots encompass al- most every aspect of our daily lives, from Bistro Cats Fa- cial Recognition Feeders, self-parking cars, to the contro- versial call center 'Chatbot' Samantha West. The automation of previous generations strictly dealt with the replacement of purely physical labor, but what we're dealing with today is not only a creative, cognitive but an economic revolution. HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE IA? In 2013, Oxford scholars Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne published a study that rated the susceptibility of American jobs to autonomous computerization. The research- ers applied a novel methodology to estimate the probability of 702 detailed professions. Having taken into account each occupation's probability of automation, its wages and the edu- cational background of workers, their findings estimate that forty-seven percent of the US labor market will be affected. According to Politifact and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this number translates into more than seventy-three million American jobs. The film industry is still considered a small niche of the over- all labor market, but Frey & Osborne state jobs in this sec- tor will also be heavily affected by computerization. Camera operators face a sixty percent chance of work displacement in this century, while sound engineering jobs are rated at only thirteen percent risk. Broadcast engineers have a sev- enty-four percent chance of unemployment. Projectionists at ninety-four percent, riggers at eighty-nine percent and transportation at seventy-five percent are among the most at risk in our in- dustry, while the probability of job loss for producers and directors lies only at 2.2 percent. Even within our own Lo- cal, there are stark contrasts although we all work side by side on set every day. With above-the-line job market practically safe, these numbers could also put the IA at a disadvantage going into future negotiations. THE FISCAL IMPACT "A tenth of the speed is still cost-effective at one hun- dredth of the price." –Humans Need Not Apply When given the choice, employers and investors will almost always choose the most economic option. An algorithm does not get tired, it doesn't need a lunch break, a minimum turnaround, wages, weekends or health insurance. Many national television news studios like Fox News have already been completely automated by systems like the Vinten Radamec designs. What used to be a human camera crew of three to six people is now a one-person control room job. In the motion picture industry, robotic start-ups like Bot & Dolly have been providing systems like The Iris to automate camera movement sequences. It essentially reduces four jobs, the dolly grip, camera operator, 1st AC and 2nd AC into one position: one software engineer proficient in Maya Autodesk. Alfonso Cuarón used The Iris system for roughly sixty percent of his zero gravity shots in his Oscar-winning picture Gravity.