According to many different experts, technology in the next few years and decades are going to completely change the way people work. From robot co-workers, to AI bosses, a lot of different possibilities are going to come up in the near future. While some innovations sound fun, others could end up being quite bothersome - imagine having an AI boss that keeps working 24/7, and has access to all kinds of sensors and monitoring data regarding your work and schedule - not fun at all.
One of the first technologies listed in this text is VR - also known by its full name, Virtual Reality. This is a kind of technology that makes it possible to either augment, or to completely change the visuals you see in your day-to-day life. For the moment, it seems that augment VR is going to be more popular and useful than full VR, as being able to add data to the things you are seeing around you is quite useful.
One of the first users of VR in the workplace is going to be construction workers, who are going to be able to see all kinds of technical data and specifications regarding the building materials around them. They are also going to be able to see different kinds of directions, regarding where to place different kinds of materials. Another field that is going to be interesting for VR developers is going to be medicine - surgeons could have a million different uses for augmented reality VR glasses.
While millions of people are already working from home (with some even doing contract work from different countries), this trend is only going to dramatically increase in the coming years. The reason for this is that as new technology becomes available, and the speed of our internet connections keep increasing, that makes it possible to do remote work that was previously impossible. Just a few years ago, many people couldn't even download large, multi-gigabyte files due to not having high-speed fiber or cable connections to their homes.
According to Dylan Hendricks, who is a director of the Future 50 Program at the Institute for the Future, virtual reality is going to be another big driver in increase remote work. "This is becoming much more of a practical infrastructure than people realize," Dylan said. "You can interact with people very far away and share data." Holographic meeting and conferencing technology is another area that is going to further evolve our work from home careers.
AI bosses are one of those things are likely to bring many positive and negative things to employees' lives. While an AI boss is going to be sharp, highly intelligent and not prone to corruption and nepotism, he is also going to much more aware of the work you do, and much less likely to be able to feel emotion or sympathize with you when you do subpar work. Perhaps you recently had a wedding and felt tired in the next few days - an AI boss is not going to be able to understand that.
An ad agency called McCann Workgroup Japan already uses an AI robot that functions as one of it's creative directors. Previously, the team at the ad agency had to manually look at ads to find out what works, but then they programmed an AI system that automatically understands what makes a good ad and gives suggestions on how to come up with even better types of ads. The solution is a win-win for everyone involved.
