Sabrina Bergman works behind the bar at the Tipsy Robot inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip, but she is not pouring drinks or making cocktails.
Her job is to ensure that the robot pouring alcohol is filling the cup to the right amount, and if the robot spills a drink, she cleans it up, NPR reported.
Robots and artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology have found their way into Sin City’s service industry, leaving economists and workers concerned about the future.
A new study finds that by 2035, 38 percent to 65 percent of jobs in Las Vegas could be automated.
More than 386,000 jobs in Las Vegas are in the tourism industry, KOLO reported. With the rise of automation and A.I. technology, the city must diversify its economy and introduce more skill-based jobs, according to John Restrepo, principal at RCG Economics in Las Vegas.
“We need to move … to those occupations that are more highly skilled, that are not easily replaced by A.I. and that provide a greater level of balance and resilience so we’re not so hard-hit,” Restrepo told NPR.
The fear of robots and new technology phasing out workers has been a concern for the Culinary Union, which has represented 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno for at least five years.
In 2018, the union fought with service industry employers in its contract to have a six-month warning for new technology being introduced into the workplace as well as free training on it. Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the union, said it is currently preparing to fight greater demands to prevent the phasing out of service workers.
“We’d like to say we’re going to be able to get an agreement,” Pappageorge told NPR. “But if we have to, we’re going to have a big fight and do whatever it takes, including a strike on technology.”
It is not just workers in the service industry threatening to go on strike due to the rise of robots and A.I. technology. Breitbart News reported that the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) — now in the third month of its strike against studios — is also seeking authorization for a strike against major video game companies for their use of A.I. technology.
David Ng of Breitbart News reported:
Many rank-and-file Hollywood actors make lucrative pay performing voice work or motion-capture performances for video game companies. But A.I. is threatening their gravy train, with A.I. applications already in use in some popular games.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called out video game companies for their “greed and disrespect.”
“Once again artificial intelligence is putting our members in jeopardy of reducing their opportunity to work,” Drescher said. “And once again, SAG-AFTRA is standing up to tyranny on behalf of its members.”
While the rise of A.I. technology is a great fear for service workers and those in the entertainment industry, Holly Lang, an MGM Grand cocktail server, told NPR that it could never replicate the human element at the heart of all customer service jobs.
“We have a lot of guests that are regular guests, and they come for the personal interaction, ” Lang said. “They don’t come for the technology.”