Time, Effort, Skill, and Creative Thought: Why Generative AI and Social Robots Do Not Devalue Human Labour

Human workers have been displaced by technology since the first industrial revolution. Today, many tasks which have hitherto been the reserve of humans can now be performed better, quicker, and more efficiently by robots or generative AI. It may therefore appear that human labour is being devalued. However, this paper argues that advances in AI and social robotics could make human-made items and human-provided services more valuable by comparison. We already value handmade items more highly than their mass-produced counterparts simply because they were made by humans; three reasons for this are discussed. Firstly, we value the time and effort of the worker; secondly, we admire their skill, creativity, and thoughtfulness; and thirdly, handmade items are often rarer than mass-produced ones. Although robots and generative AI may be able to produce unique items, we will nevertheless continue to value human-made items and human-provided services because we value the time, effort, creativity, skill, and thoughtfulness of human workers, but not generative AI or robots: this makes human labour seem more valuable by comparison.