In 2004 my parents got me my first phone.

The Nokia 3310, also referred to as “the brick phone,” was known for being one of the most popular devices of the 2000s, starting the mobile revolution. Who would’ve thought that only 15 years later we would already be familiarized with face recognition technology on touch screen smartphones?

The last decade has given us some of the most life-changing technological advances, such as 3D printed organs, self-driving cars, and augmented reality devices, to name a few.

For me, artificial intelligence (AI) in general is by far one of the most influential technological advances because it seeks to emulate the human mind and behavior to the point of almost replacing it. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by AI, especially by its ambiguity, as it is perceived as a positive influence to humanity but also as a threat; the fear of robots replacing humans is growing exponentially as technology arises.

I recently stumbled upon a really interesting website:

https://willrobotstakemyjob.com/

The website is based on a report published by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne titled "The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerization?” The authors implemented a novel methodology to estimate the probability of computerization for 702 detailed occupations using a Gaussian process classifier. According to their estimates, about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk.

The website is basically a search engine where you type in an occupation and a percentage appears. As most would do, the first thing I did was type mine and I was pleasantly surprised, I wasn’t at risk at all. Interior designers only had a 2% chance of being replaced by robots in the future, but this wasn’t the case for other occupations, such as cashiers, waiters, and others.

After spending some time looking at different occupations and their percentages, I was amazed by how easily some jobs could just be replaced and felt relieved designers still had their place on this earth. It is why I chose this path in the first place; design is an occupation by the people and for the people. It’s human-centered.

No machine can understand us better than we do ourselves — we are able to study our own behavior and understand what our needs are in a space. We know what makes us feel good, what helps us with efficiency, and how we like to live. So while technology has brought interior design countless benefits such as 3D printed furniture and models, virtual reality, and high quality renderings, the human factor will always be necessary for a design to be successful.