Skynet Is Here

Just the other day, I was wandering through my local Kroger. I hadn't a care in the world, apart from trying to remember everything on the grocery list I'd jotted down in my head. My mood was great: the sun was shining, I had Voiceplay blasting through my earbuds, and there was a sale on ice cream.

As I passed the meat section and rounded the corner towards dairy, however, I saw it scooting up the aisles toward me.

I didn't know what it was at first to be honest. All I saw was this shiny, white and black flat column thing slowly approaching from the potato chip aisle. The digital screen on the front had these two giant black circles that looked like eyes, bouncing back and forth to scan for hazards in its path. Sometimes, they blinked. To my amazement, it actually stopped when an old woman shuffled across its path, letting out a cheerful whistle as she hurried out of its way.

When it got closer, I could read the sticker on the front of it:

"Hi there! I'm Tally - the inventory robot. Please do not touch, as I am working very hard to count items on the shelves. Thank you!"

A robot, Dear Friends. There was a robot running up and down the aisles of my tiny, podunk grocery store in the middle of Nowheresville, USA. Not only that, but it was actually working in the store. And it could recognize the difference between people and the shelves around it, navigating intelligently to avoid it. Some folks (the ones braver than I) even walked up to it and said, "Hello, Tally" after reading the sign on it. Amazingly, it responded every time with another happy little whistle. Without fail.

That is absolutely incredible... and terrifying.

Don't get me wrong here: I am a big fan of technology. I use it every day, in fact, in almost every aspect of my life. Seeing Tally do its thing, though... it didn't feel right. Kroger already doesn't pay its staff enough for the grief they have to go through day to day (I should know, because I used to work there). And yet, somehow they find it in their budget to buy an AI-powered inventory robot. Something doesn't add up here.

Kroger isn't the only place I've seen Tally since. They've been scooting down the aisles at BJs, Lowes, and HyVee, too. Even Wal-Mart seems to have shelled out the big bucks for their own Tally. These machines are just popping up everywhere like prairie dogs. And, simultaneously, I've noticed a significant dip in human employees at these stores.

The Robot Apocalypse has not only hit grocery stores, by the way. Everywhere you go, there are machines doing jobs that people should be doing. Retail stores have automated checkouts. Fast food places have digital screens to put your orders in instead of making you walk up to the counter. Even Amazon uses robots to help fulfill their massive quantities of daily orders.

I know people make mistakes. They get tired, and sometimes distracted. It still just doesn't seem fair, though. A person may be imperfect, but at least they can reason and critical think. Robots can only do what they are programmed to do. Even if it might be a hair more efficient, it still is no replacement for human workers doing the same job.

Humans need to pay rent. They need groceries, warm clothing, and have cars that require fuel. Robots don't need any of those things. They need nothing. And what they need least of all is employment. Instead of coming up with new machines to make our lives more efficient, employers should be channeling their efforts toward the backbone of their businesses: the hard-working, underpaid, underappreciated people that keep product on the shelves and customers coming through the door.

We are social creatures, after all. No matter how cheerfully a robot can whistle, it'll never replace a friendly smile and a warm greeting from a real person. My only hope is that this is just a fad. A fad that will fizzle out very soon.