Editing Robot (section)

=== Relationship to unemployment ===
{{Main|Technological unemployment}}
For centuries, people have predicted that machines would make [[Technological unemployment|workers obsolete and increase unemployment]], although the causes of unemployment are usually thought to be due to social policy.<ref>{{cite journal |first=E |last=McGaughey |title=Will Robots Automate Your Job Away? Full Employment, Basic Income, and Economic Democracy |orig-date=January 10, 2018 |date=2022 |url=https://osf.io/download/5da6fbaca7bc73000df40ef9/ |journal=[[Industrial Law Journal]] |volume=51 |issue=3 |ssrn=3119589 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3119589}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/business/economy/a-future-without-jobs-two-views-of-the-changing-work-force.html|title=A Future Without Jobs? Two Views of the Changing Work Force|date=9 March 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|last1=Porter|first1=Eduardo|last2=Manjoo|first2=Farhad|access-date=23 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215151324/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/business/economy/a-future-without-jobs-two-views-of-the-changing-work-force.html|archive-date=15 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/|title=A World Without Work|journal=The Atlantic|first=Derek|last=Thompson|date=July–August 2015|access-date=11 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227122425/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/|archive-date=27 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

A recent example of human replacement involves Taiwanese technology company [[Foxconn]] who, in July 2011, announced a three-year plan to replace workers with more robots. At present the company uses ten thousand robots but will increase them to a million robots over a three-year period.<ref name=XINFoxcon>{{cite news|title=Foxconn to replace workers with 1 million robots in 3 years|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htm|access-date=4 August 2011|agency=Xinhua News Agency|date=30 July 2011|author=Yan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008201637/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htm|archive-date=8 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Lawyers have speculated that an increased prevalence of robots in the workplace could lead to the need to improve redundancy laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://futureofworkhub.squarespace.com/allcontent/2014/11/20/judgment-day-employment-law-and-robots-in-the-workplace|title=Judgment day – employment law and robots in the workplace|work=futureofworkhub|date=20 November 2014 |access-date=7 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403233901/https://futureofworkhub.squarespace.com/allcontent/2014/11/20/judgment-day-employment-law-and-robots-in-the-workplace|archive-date=3 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kevin J. Delaney said "Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies' use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Delaney|first1=Kevin|title=The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates|url=https://qz.com/911968/bill-gates-the-robot-that-takes-your-job-should-pay-taxes/|website=Quartz|date=17 February 2017 |access-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305042737/https://qz.com/911968/bill-gates-the-robot-that-takes-your-job-should-pay-taxes/|archive-date=5 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[robot tax]] would also help pay a guaranteed living wage to the displaced workers.

The [[World Bank]]'s [[World Development Report]] 2019 puts forth evidence showing that while automation displaces workers, technological innovation creates more new industries and jobs on balance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019|title=The Changing Nature of Work|access-date=8 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930193143/http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019|archive-date=30 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>