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DukkyDrake t1_j1idk99 wrote

Reply to comment by Ortus12 in Am I the only one on this sub that believes AI actually will bring more jobs (especially in tech)? by raylolSW

It's possible. But you should consider the fact human labor isn't usually the largest % of retail prices. (e.g., You might pay ~$0.57/lb for potatoes in Austin TX, ~$0.12/lb goes to the farmer.) Grocery stores labor costs is around ~14% of sales.

There is a factory in Japan that operates lights out, no human workers. Robots do all of the work; the factory happens to manufacture robots. These robots made by other robots are expensive. The entire chain isn't automated, they don't make the semiconductors etc in their robots, but my point is that companies make products to sell for the maximum price the market can bear and not the cheapest. Although manufacture/labor cost doesn't determine the price, automation does lower the cost of goods and services.

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Ortus12 t1_j1ij3ym wrote

That's true. Food prices probably won't come down much.

It looks like food prices were going down but reached diminishing returns and then flatlined and probably won't go much lower than they were in 1990.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=76964

I'm not sure what you mean by expensive robots. At the moment flippy the robot that makes fries cost 3.5K a month for jack in the box to rent. You can buy it for 30K. It also grills burgers, fries and onions rings.

https://www.businessinsider.com/miso-robotics-flippy-robot-on-sale-for-300000-2020-10#miso-first-introduced-flippy-at-the-grill-in-2018-as-the-first-burger-flipping-robot-in-the-world-it-could-grill-150-burgers-each-hour-1

I'm realizing that the most cost effective robot for different tasks, is not a full humanoid robot with legs and fingers (unless that humanoid robot is produced at scale, I don't know). Our world could fill up gradually with many robots. So certain jobs that are harder to automate (plumper/repair man) will probably be safe from robots for a while.

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DukkyDrake t1_j1ilas7 wrote

That example is just a long existing manufacturer of industrial robots, demonstrating products aren't necessarily super cheap just because their production is as maximally automated as permitted by economic concerns.

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