Consequences: Automation Could Make Income Inequality Worse

This opinion piece in the LA Times by Brian Justie can’t quite get to why this is all happening

Opinion: How robots making your burger and fries can lead to greater income inequality

On April 1, more than half a million fast-food workers in California got a raise, with minimum wage across the sector bumped up to $20 per hour. That same week, the self-proclaimed “world’s first fully autonomous restaurant” opened its doors for business in Pasadena.

These two stories have received considerable media attention, typically presented as fundamentally linked: Fast-food franchise owners are struggling to stay afloat amid rising labor costs, leading many to consider automation as the only viable solution. But this simple depiction of cause and effect paints a picture of innovation and inevitability that sells the public on a fanciful myth.

Well, if the companies didn’t think it would save them money, they wouldn’t do it. But, it’s a one time cost for the device, then maintenance, instead of paying low skilled worked $20 an hour (for now, there’s no idea what the People’s Republik of California will do next) while dealing with all their issues.

I study low-wage industries in Los Angeles County, including the effects of new technology on workers. My research shows how automation does not always lead to greater efficiency and cost-cutting for businesses, as AI boosters would like the public — and policymakers — to believe. This kind of innovation also promises to further income inequality. Working people deserve to have their voices heard in determining how, where, when or whether AI and automation should be used.

Why? They don’t own the businesses. They didn’t put their money on the line to open on. What gives them a right to have their voices heard? They’re employees, and, it’s not like they are bringing anything to the table.

Likewise, consumers end up paying more for less, as automation requires high levels of standardization. In fast food, this means small menus with minimal customization. Food prices, meanwhile, will continue to skyrocket, just as they have over the last decade, far outpacing the rate of inflation and boosting corporate profits to unprecedented new heights. My order at CaliExpress — a burger and fries, the extent of their current menu — came out to $15.44, more than double the same order at In-N-Out.

Hmm, why are they skyrocketing? Must be those Evil store owners, right? Rather than idiot policies of the PRC.

Along with the minimum wage increase, Assembly Bill 1228 also established the state’s first “sectoral bargaining” councils, where workers and employers come together to collectively determine industry-wide standards and protections — including, hopefully, the role of new technology in the workplace.

And this will drive even more businesses out of business, at least in the PRC. Brian’s still missing the root cause.

Unlike unproven AI novelties, California’s new fast-food bill is a form of innovation we should demand policymakers invest in, as it will lift thousands out of poverty and give marginalized workers a seat at the table. That’s more transformative than anything being cooked up in Silicon Valley.

In other words, the LA Times wants worker bees to have a say in all policies. And you know one of those would be that humans cannot be replaced with automation. There really isn’t much time spent on income inequality increasing in the article, unless you want to count the minimum wage being zero for many, because they lost their jobs. I would argue that automation will help bridge the income gap. Now instead of working min wage doing a job you can train a toddler to do, you will have to learn a skill, maybe fixing the robots? Don’t see any cries about automation in the auto industry, and most of the work is done by robot.

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