The Business Leaders Who Aren't Worried About Robots Replacing Us

Beware, mankind — machines are taking over.

The fear has been voiced by tech titans such as Microsoft Corporation MSFT's Bill Gates and Tesla Inc TSLA's Elon Musk.

"I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. So we need to be very careful. I'm increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish," Musk was quoted as saying in The Guardian. 

Even as fears abound over robots/AI making humans redundant, here are a few business leaders who are hopeful that humans and improving robot technology can both emerge victorious in the end.

No. 1: Robots Can Help Have Better Human Lives

After initially sounding worried, Apple Inc. AAPL cofounder Steve Wozniak has now warmed to the idea of having robots around. Wozniak doesn't think we will reach a point where men can make an artificial brain, given the intricacies in the structure and functioning of the organ.

"A computer could figure out a logical endpoint decision, but that's not the way intelligence works in humans. Well, I'm not gonna say they cannot do it. But every bit of tech we've ever built is for helping people in different ways. Technology is designed to be something good in life,"  Wozniak said in a WIRED interview. 

"So, I believe optimistically that the robots we're building are going to help us have better human lives."

No. 2 A Job Creation Potential Larger Than Job Destruction

Facebook Inc FB COO Sheryl Sandberg said in a World Economic Forum 2016 conference that she sees the possibility of job creation as greater than the jobs being destroyed.

Sandberg doesn't believe the Fourth Industrial Revolution will mean that all jobs will be destroyed; that virtual reality translates into the end of face-to-face communication; or that artificial intelligence will take over human intelligence.

No. 3 An Unreasonable Fear?

Marc Andreessen, the general partner in venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said during Recode's Annual Code Conference that fears people harbor about an upcoming technological revolution rarely materialize. Robotics will create "one of the biggest booms" ever seen, Andreessen said. While there will be many losers, the winners in the sector will become "defining companies of the era," he said. 

No. 4 A Repositioning Of Labor

Bringing in robots for some jobs is economically attractive, Garry Mathiason, chairman of law firm Littler Mendelson, was quoted as saying by Fast Company. Mathiason cited the employment of robots in the restaurant industry, which could otherwise see wage inflation if the minimum wage is raised.

Mathiason argued there will be a repositioning of people into jobs don't even exist today. 

"If you look back in history, you'll see that this disruption has been going on for some time. Not as fast as what we're currently experiencing, but nonetheless [it's] there," Mathiason said.

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