History Main / JobStealingRobot

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E153TheBrainCenterAtWhipples The Brain Center at Whipple's]]", a callous business executive replaces all of his workers with machines, putting them out of work. At the end, he suffers karmic justice as he is replaced by [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Robbie the Robot]].

* JobStealingRobot: Plenty of them in ''{{Series/Cybervillage}}''. One of the reasons Baragozin is hated.

An application of TechnologyMarchesOn and subtrope of ManVersusMachine. Overlaps with LuddWasRight. When someone fights against the Job-Stealing Robot, particularly when using questionable means, you're looking at an EvilLuddite. More often that not, due to the fact that humans tend to triumph or compromise with machines by story's end. Compare UndeadLaborers for the fantasy counterpart. Contrast WeWillUseManualLaborINTheFuture. Compare and Contrast RottenRoboticReplacement, which is about a single character or group being replaced, with disastrous results.

* Note, however, that this only remains true as long as there is both demand for more products (whereas demand is finite) and the consumers can actually afford more products - which is unlikely when wages stagnate or even decrease outright, as workers are displaced or shifted to part-time gigs, and increasing amounts of money are concentrated in the hands of the asset owners rather than circulate throughout the economy. Such issues have been pointed out in [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/z4m38a/dont-fear-the-robots-taking-your-job-blame-the-monopolies-behind-them this article]].

* Aristotle contended that the institution of slavery would be necessary to civilization's survival until a day when machines and other tools (such as musical instruments) could operate themselves. [[TechnologyMarchesOn That day has come.]] He thought it would never happen, since the idea seemed absurd.

'''Virtual Mike:''' Hey, guys, how many musicians does it take to screw in a light bulb?\\

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E2Armstrong Armstrong]]", the titular robot. He quickly puts Launchpad and most of Scrooge's other employees out of a job... Until he goes crazy and takes over Scrooge's money bin. However, the triplets bring in Launchpad, and Armstrong is stopped.
** This actually gets subverted in the very next episode, "Robot Robbers". Scrooge castigates Gyro for building giant construction machines for Flintheart Glomgold, thinking they are robots like Armstrong. Gyro points out ''these'' machines are actually run by a worker inside the "head". Which becomes a problem when the Beagle Boys steal them to try and break into Scrooge's money bin.

** Mr. Burns has twice tried to replace all the workers at SNPP with robots. The first time is during a strike and the robots run amok. The second time Burns fires everyone (except Homer) and replace them with robots, which eventually (thanks to Homer) run amok. This time the unemployed and underemployed former SNPP workers come to his rescue, and he rehires them all.
** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E17BartGetsAnElephant "Bart Gets an Elephant"]], Bill & Marty ([[DumbassDJ the radio DJs]]) are threatened to be replaced by a wisecracking computer if they don't make good on the promise of an elephant for Bart.
** The eulogy for Asa Phelps in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E22 "Curse of the Flying Hellfish"]] says that "He worked at the United Strut and Bracing Works as a molder’s boy, until he was replaced by a molder-matic and died."
** Bizarrely subverted in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E17MaximumHomerdrive "Maximum Homerdrive"]] where [[AutomatedAutomobiles computer-driven long-haul trucks]] don't put the truckers out of work because the technology is owned ''by the truckers' union''. They all ([[CutLexLuthorACheck inexplicably]]) [[TheMasquerade keep it a secret]] and pretend to still drive the trucks as normal.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when the "DEY TERK ER JERBS!" rednecks blame smart speakers such as Alexa for them not having jobs, so the townspeople hire them as in-home personal assistants.

* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Obsoletely Fabulous" features [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Bender]] [[ExaggeratedTrope upset about being replaced by a better robot]].

-->'''Higgens''': [[WarIsHell Good thing]] [[WeHaveReserves Troopers come cheap.]]

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Metalocalypse}}'': While [[TheAlcoholic Pickles the Drummer]] is sent to rehab, he's replaced by a drum machine. It initially proves itself to be a superior replacement without the drinking problems, but the fame of being a rockstar somehow affects the machine and it develops addictions of its own. By the time Pickles is released from rehab, the machine has [[AIIsACrapshoot gone psychotic]] and the drummer must save his bandmates from the drum machine.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheInspector'' has the episode 'Les Miserobots' where the Inspector is replaced by robot cop who is so efficient, it ends up taking the Commissioner's job by the end!

** Subverted in one case of two lawyers using ChatGPT to research the case for them. [[https://youtu.be/oqSYljRYDEM It ended up making up cases and citations out of whole cloth]], which the lawyers didn't check and were easily found out by the judge.

* The threat of Large Language Models like [=ChatGPT=] [[JobStealingRobot taking their jobs]] is a [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes major grievance]] in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike 2023 Hollywood writer's strike]].

* Note, however, that this only remains true as long as there is both demand for more products (whereas demand is finite) and the consumers can actually afford more products - which is unlikely when wages stagnate or even decrease outright, as workers are displaced or shifted to part-time gigs, and increasing amounts of money are concentrated in the hands of the asset owners rather than circulate throughout the economy.

* Ryan Avent of The Economist and others argue that the Luddite Fallacy is no longer relevant in the digital age. According to them, the Digital Revolution is proving far more disruptive to the job market than the two Industrial Revolutions, by replacing not merely physical, but also routine cognitive labor as well, obsoleting the need for the bulk of office and customer service jobs, effectively leaving the need for humans only at those positions where innovative thought is required constantly. See here for links: [[http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21621156-first-two-industrial-revolutions-inflicted-plenty-pain-ultimately-benefited Ryan Avent of The Economist]], [[http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/ Martin Ford]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU C.G.P. Grey]], [[http://www.computerworld.com/article/2485706/emerging-technology/as-the-digital-revolution-kills-jobs--social-unrest-will-rise.html The Gartner Group]], [[http://www.salon.com/2013/05/12/jaron_lanier_the_internet_destroyed_the_middle_class/ Jaron Lanier]], and [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/z4m38a/dont-fear-the-robots-taking-your-job-blame-the-monopolies-behind-them Victoria Turk]].

* Ryan Avent of The Economist and others argue that the Luddite Fallacy is no longer relevant in the digital age. According to them, the Digital Revolution is proving far more disruptive to the job market than the two Industrial Revolutions, by replacing not merely physical, but also routine cognitive labor as well, obsoleting the need for the bulk of office and customer service jobs, effectively leaving the need for humans only at those positions where innovative thought is required constantly. See here for links: [[http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21621156-first-two-industrial-revolutions-inflicted-plenty-pain-ultimately-benefited Ryan Avent of The Economist]], [[http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/ Martin Ford]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU C.G.P. Grey]], [[http://www.computerworld.com/article/2485706/emerging-technology/as-the-digital-revolution-kills-jobs--social-unrest-will-rise.html The Gartner Group]], and [[http://www.salon.com/2013/05/12/jaron_lanier_the_internet_destroyed_the_middle_class/ Jaron Lanier]].

** Related to [=UBI=], some welfare advocates suggest going a step further with a "robot tax" to fund welfare programs that help displaced workers like job training, government-funded healthcare and the aforementioned [=UBI=].

* The threat of Large Language Models like [=ChatGPT=] [[JobStealingRobot taking their jobs]] is a major grievance in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike 2023 Hollywood writer's strike]].

* There is an apocryphal story of a meeting between a UAW (United Auto Workers) boss and an automotive executive. The executive brags about his new welding robots, telling the union boss "They won't pay union dues." The union boss responds with [[DidNotThinkThisThrough "They won't buy cars, either."]]

* An e-mail in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'' mentions a manager who fired an employee who refused to serve a customer a meal they didn't have on the menu (it's a pizza place, but the customer ordered chicken alfredo) and replaced him with a S.T.A.F.F. bot. However, because the customer's order wasn't on the menu, the robot didn't know how to prepare it. The manager [[LaserGuidedKarma was promptly fired for wrongful termination]].

** Subverted in one case of two lawyers using ChatGPT to research the case for them. [[https://youtu.be/oqSYljRYDEM It ended up making up cases and citations out of whole cloth]], which the lawayers didn't check and were easily found out by the judge.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' had this happen in a Nuka-Cola bottling plant in which a robot called Milo was made the supervisor of a group of workers. [[AIIsACrapshoot It began locking employees in a closet for days for things like taking slightly-too-long breaks and leaving a toilet seat up.]] Something would presumably have been done about this had the [[NukeEm the War]] not come first.
*** According to a terminal in the Supply Plant from The Pitt DLC of the same game, before the war the factory's workers were replaced by modified Protectrons; when they found out, they blamed the foreman and tried to murder him, ([[UngratefulBastard even though he tried to cover for them]]). When the robots were sent to stop the confrontation [[TooDumbToLive the workers attacked them]] and were promptly vaporized.
** Likewise, in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', there are terminal entries in the Sunset Sasparilla bottling plant discussing plans to replace its workers with RobCo's robots.

* ''Anime/{{Metropolis}}'' also has a pivotal plot point about robots being loathed for causing high unemployment rates, so much so that a whole subterranean level of the city, "Zone 1", is inhabited by those who lost their jobs, and are on the verge of revolting against the higher-ups in the surface who allowed this to happen.

* The advancement of UsefulNotes/AIGeneratedArtwork has sparked fears of automation of the creative industry, as a number of digital artists have feared their work may become devalued in favor of art-generating algorithms. Further adding to the controversy is the revelation that these Generated Images are built on stolen and copyrighted artwork, often intentionally by the creators and proponents of AI Generation ''and without consent or permission from the artists they were taken from'', effectively treating them as little more than resources to be [[{{Greed}} pillaged and looted for their own benefit.]]

* The advancement of UsefulNotes/AIGeneratedArtwork has sparked fears of automation of the creative industry, as a number of digital artists have feared their work may become devalued in favor of art-generating algorithms. Further complicating matters is the revelation that these Generated Images are built on stolen artwork, often intentionally by the creators and proponents of AI Generation without consent or permission from the artists they were taken from, and essentially treating them as little more than resources to be [[{{Greed}} pillaged and looted for their own benefit.]]

* The advancement of UsefulNotes/AIGeneratedArtwork has sparked fears of automation of the creative industry, as a number of digital artists have feared their work may become devalued in favor of art-generating algorithms. Further complicating matters is the revelation that these Generated Images are built on stolen artwork, often intentionally by the creators and proponents of AI Generation without consent or permission from the artists they were taken from, and essentially treating them as little more than resources to be [[Greed pillaged and looted for their own benefit.]]

* The advancement of UsefulNotes/AIGeneratedArtwork has sparked fears of automation of the creative industry, as a number of digital artists have feared their work may become devalued in favor of art-generating algorithms.

** In another strip, Carol asks Dilbert what college major he would recommend her son pursue. Dilbert points out that "it will take him fifteen years to pay off his student loans, but most jobs will be replaced by robots in ten". He adds that "the world will always need bankers" but Carol is "[[AcceptableProfessionalTargets trying to steer him away from crime]]".

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Ultimate Computer", Starfleet decides it's a great idea for a computer to replace Kirk as captain of the ''Enterprise''. The computer [[AIIsaCrapshoot goes evil]], of course.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E153TheBrainCenterAtWhipples The Brain Center at Whipple's]]". A callous business executive replaces all of his workers with machines, putting them out of work. At the end, he suffers karmic justice as he is replaced by [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Robbie the Robot]].

* ''[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Warhammer 40,000]]'':