The article gives the example of a bartender. Not as much skill as other jobs but yes I’d expect that to be difficult to automate. Especially profitably. But that’s a far cry from claiming that is a job that can support a family with a middle class lifestyle, or that all of us white collars can do it and still expect good oay
Some aspects of a bartender’s job are already automated - there are “robot bars” where machines prepare and serve drinks. What can’t be automated are the human aspects of the job, as much as AI can mimic conversation, it can’t do empathy or really any genuine emotion which is an important aspect of a bartender/server’s job
A pub near me has a serve-yourself beer wall that works pretty well without a bartender. It meters by the ounce but that means everything has to be the same price.
I have no idea if that would scale to larger, busier places or where people are likely to get drunk.
That approach wouldn’t work for cocktails but there’s no reason you can’t have a drink maker for at least the most common stuff. But that doesn’t work for crowds or personal service, and could never cover the vast number of possible combinations
A place near me has this too, and it’s usually very empty. The thing is that it is not that serving beers and mixed liquids isn’t automatable; it’s that nobody is going to sit on a bar stool and talk to a kegerator.
The one near me isn’t set up like a line of stools at a bar. It’s a ton of tables all over the place with some arcade/bar games strewn around. In a college area so fills up pretty easily at night
I went to a taphouse like this. You were issued a lanyard with an rfid chip in it that was linked to your tab. You’d scan the chip on the tap you wanted, and pour as much or little as you like into your glassware of choice. It had the price listed on the description screen for each tap, and would charge according to what you poured, down to a pretty small amount, because you control the tap handle. Want to try a small splash for a quarter? You can!
So yes it absolutely can scale larger. This place has I think 50+ taps, and because they only needed a few people for staff for dozens of tables (they had a limited cold food menu or it could have been one person easily), the overhead seemed like it was pretty low.
We went at an off-time, but they said they stay pretty busy on weekends and stuff.
Your asking these people to put a value on empathy?
Their thinking: A customer wants a drink. Have the robot liquor dispenser create any drink the customer needs, and collect payment. Repeat as necessary. What else is required?
No doesn’t bring in profit. Rather than turning down paying customers, lobby for legislation that alcohol served by a robot is immune from liability. It’s all on the drinker alone. As long as they can keep swiping the terminal, they’ll keep getting booze.
The article gives the example of a bartender. Not as much skill as other jobs but yes I’d expect that to be difficult to automate. Especially profitably. But that’s a far cry from claiming that is a job that can support a family with a middle class lifestyle, or that all of us white collars can do it and still expect good oay
Some aspects of a bartender’s job are already automated - there are “robot bars” where machines prepare and serve drinks. What can’t be automated are the human aspects of the job, as much as AI can mimic conversation, it can’t do empathy or really any genuine emotion which is an important aspect of a bartender/server’s job
A pub near me has a serve-yourself beer wall that works pretty well without a bartender. It meters by the ounce but that means everything has to be the same price.
I have no idea if that would scale to larger, busier places or where people are likely to get drunk.
That approach wouldn’t work for cocktails but there’s no reason you can’t have a drink maker for at least the most common stuff. But that doesn’t work for crowds or personal service, and could never cover the vast number of possible combinations
A place near me has this too, and it’s usually very empty. The thing is that it is not that serving beers and mixed liquids isn’t automatable; it’s that nobody is going to sit on a bar stool and talk to a kegerator.
The one near me isn’t set up like a line of stools at a bar. It’s a ton of tables all over the place with some arcade/bar games strewn around. In a college area so fills up pretty easily at night
I went to a taphouse like this. You were issued a lanyard with an rfid chip in it that was linked to your tab. You’d scan the chip on the tap you wanted, and pour as much or little as you like into your glassware of choice. It had the price listed on the description screen for each tap, and would charge according to what you poured, down to a pretty small amount, because you control the tap handle. Want to try a small splash for a quarter? You can!
So yes it absolutely can scale larger. This place has I think 50+ taps, and because they only needed a few people for staff for dozens of tables (they had a limited cold food menu or it could have been one person easily), the overhead seemed like it was pretty low.
We went at an off-time, but they said they stay pretty busy on weekends and stuff.
Your asking these people to put a value on empathy?
Their thinking: A customer wants a drink. Have the robot liquor dispenser create any drink the customer needs, and collect payment. Repeat as necessary. What else is required?
knowing when to tell a customer -a drunk customer “no” is a huge part of the job.
No doesn’t bring in profit. Rather than turning down paying customers, lobby for legislation that alcohol served by a robot is immune from liability. It’s all on the drinker alone. As long as they can keep swiping the terminal, they’ll keep getting booze.
It’s the Free Market