Barbados, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds, has to have a serious discussion about the future of automation and robotics in the employment sector.
Speaking at the Barbados Workers’ Union’s 82nd Annual Delegates Conference at Solidarity House on Saturday, Symmonds stated that while some in Barbados may believe that such technologies are a long way from arriving on the island, his travels in other jurisdictions have shown him that the reality is much different, and discussions on the subject are necessary.
“I see drive-thru windows which are serviced only by a robotic arm and an automatic teller machine; I see robots cleaning hotel rooms; I am told one robot can now replace an entire shift in an housekeeping department; I am told that in some places visitors have returned to hotels but staff have not returned,” Symmonds said.
“And when I ask why staff have not returned to hotels, the answer is that there are robotic servers, intelligent computer systems, artificial concierges overing check-in and check-out services. All of these are becoming a lived reality in parts of this world.
“The world is moving at lightning speed in a direction that we are not talking about sufficiently enough in Barbados.”
He further added: “What we must do, is to be sufficiently alert to the situation, that while we watch these deployments, we bear in mind that the most vital possession that any Barbadian worker can have, is his or her job security.
“There can be no doubt that artificial intelligence will likely bring with it a number of positive effects, including speed, including efficiency. Equally, it is clear that in these early stages there are a number of applications of robotics and automation, artificial intelligence, that have had and continue to have their fair share of problems as they impact tasks and centres of the economy where they have been deployed.”
