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The future isn’t so bright

In various issues of Hi-Tech Security Solutions, we have spoken of things like the IoT (Internet of Things) and other modern advances in technology. We have even touched briefly on issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. However, despite the advances in technology we’re seeing, the security industry is only touching the sides of the changes the world is facing.

That’s not to say the security industry is not focusing its R&D on things like machine learning and AI, in fact, some companies are already throwing these buzzwords into their publicity efforts and even releasing products. However, the world of AI, to reduce future advances to a single acronym, is only beginning for the security world. And there are local companies that are already so far ahead of the mainstream, their offerings should scare the living daylights out of integrators, installers, distributors and technicians in the security world.

The frightening part of the move to AI and the associated buzzwords is the impact new technology advances will have on the world in general. Already we’re seeing people touting the benefits of analytics and ‘black screen’ surveillance that could see a dramatic reduction in the need for guards on patrol. Other technologies in other industries are going to have similar consequences for all of us.

The common, polite term for the changes we are going to face is a ‘society in flux’. What that means in the real world is that millions of jobs will be lost over the next couple of decades (assuming the predictions are correct, and they seem solid). It’s not only blue-collar jobs that will go, but even many white-collar jobs will be taken over by AI. The machines are coming . . .

The appeasing words to make these job losses seem less dangerous is that new jobs will be created to offset the losses. Of course, these new jobs will require far more education and skills than those that were lost, and there will be far fewer jobs available. In the South African context, with the government hellbent on reducing the education system to a joke, this does not bode well.

Moreover, the entrepreneurial skills of today’s South African youth are pretty worthless, except in a few cases where kids have the benefit of private school and successful business parents. The Youth Leadership & Entrepreneurship Development Programme founded by Steven Zwane is dedicated to helping today’s youth develop an entrepreneurial flair, but it is only a drop in the ocean of so many people currently unemployed and the many more facing the same situation in future.

Given the realities of South Africa, the future looks bleak from the perspective of AI. We already have far too many people on social grants to be sustainable, and adding to that number will only increase tensions and serve as fodder for those devoted to violence. The government’s apparent idea of simply taxing itself out of trouble – such as for the supposed national health service – simply can’t work with the number of tax payers in constant decline along with the funds they obtain from their jobs.

If state-owned enterprises like Eskom, SAA and Transnet were run efficiently by professionals, they could perhaps take up some of the financial slack – to a small extent – but we know that is not going to happen. How will the country deal with advancing technologies and the unstoppable march of the machines?

Andrew Seldon

Editor

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