Humans Need Not Apply
{{short description|2014 internet video by CGP Grey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox film
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| name = Humans Need Not Apply
| director =
| producer = CGP Grey
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| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2014|8|13}}
| runtime = {{Duration|m=15|s=01}}
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
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Humans Need Not Apply is a 2014 internet video directed, produced, written, and edited by CGP Grey. It focuses on the future of the integration of automation into economics, as well as the impact of this integration to the worldwide workforce. It was released online on YouTube on 13 August 2014.{{Citation|title=Humans Need Not Apply|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU|language=en|access-date=12 March 2020}} It was later made available via iTunes and RSS.{{Cite web|title=CGP Grey Videos|url=https://www.cgpgrey.com/cgp-grey-videos-itunes-rss|access-date=2020-09-15|website=CGP Grey|language=en-US}}
Premise
File: Google's Lexus RX 450h Self-Driving Car.jpg
The video focuses on the topic of robots' rapidly increasing usefulness through human society, discussing how automation will lead to a future where human labour is no longer needed.
Early on, an analogy is made describing how humans once displaced horses from their jobs (by creating mechanical muscles such as automobiles), dismissing the argument that humans will always find new work, seeing as horses are not used nearly as much now. This analogy finishes by connecting the creation of mechanical minds, or "brain labor", to robots ousting humans from their occupations.{{cite news |last = Pagano |first = Margareta |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/humans-need-not-apply-the-future-of-jobs-is-robotshaped-9673643.html |title = Humans need not apply: The future of jobs is robot-shaped |newspaper = The Independent |date = 17 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}{{Cite book|last1=Semwal |first1=Tushar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IRVEAAAQBAJ |title=Cyber-Physical Systems: Solutions to Pandemic Challenges |last2=Iqbal |first2=Faiz |date=2022-03-02 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-000-56259-0 |pages=87 |language=en}} Grey also discusses how economics is the force behind a future based upon automation.{{cite web |last = Griswold |first = Alison |url = http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/08/15/humans_need_not_apply_watch_a_dark_video_on_automation_and_human_work.html |title = Why the Future of Work Is Doomed, in One Video |publisher = Slate |work = Moneybox |date = 15 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}
Grey concludes by stating that 45% of the workforce could be replaced by bots, a figure which is inclusive of professional, white-collar and low-skill occupations, and higher than the 25% unemployment figure of the Great Depression.{{cite web |last = Love |first = Dylan |url = http://www.businessinsider.com/humans-need-not-apply-video-2014-8 |title = Not Even Doctors And Lawyers Are Safe From Machines Taking Their Jobs |website = Business Insider |date = 13 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }} To take one specific example, the video states that there are 3 million driving jobs in the United States and 70 million worldwide (extrapolated from the United States figure). Grey further states that even creative occupations are not secure, mentioning the AI-composed music in the background of his video.{{Cite journal |last=Farrell |first=J. P. |date=2015 |title=Artificial Composers: Tools of the Modern Musician or Affront to Human Creativity? |url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1017/artificial-composers-tools-of-the-modern-musician-or-affront-to-human-creativity |journal=Inquiries Journal |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=1}}
Additionally, the viewer is reminded that the video is not discussing or portraying a future based upon science fiction, using examples such as Baxter, self-driving cars (referred to as autos in the video) and IBM's Watson.{{cite web |last = Strange |first = Adario |url = http://mashable.com/2014/08/19/scary-smart-video-predicts-automation-will-make-human-work-obsolete-in-the-future/ |title = Scary Smart Video Predicts Automation Will Make Human Work Obsolete |publisher = Mashable |date = 19 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}{{cite news |last = Ford |first = Martin |url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-ford/humans-need-not-apply_b_5693808.html |title = The Robots Are Coming and 'Humans Need Not Apply' |work = Huffington Post |date = 20 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}{{Cite news |last=Neal |first=Meghan |date=13 August 2014 |title=Why Automation Today Is Like Computers in the 1980s |work=Motherboard |publisher=Vice |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-automation-today-is-like-computers-in-the-1980s-video/ |access-date=7 September 2022}}
Production and funding
The film was funded through Subbable, a crowdfunding website. Grey used this website as a means to support his projects before moving to Subbable's successor, Patreon.{{cite web |last = Grey |first = CGP |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmKYVm72LU&list=UU2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w |title = CGP Grey Crowdfunding, Year 2 |publisher = YouTube |work = CGP Grey |date = 18 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}
Reception and legacy
Humans Need Not Apply was covered by several publications, including Business Insider, The Huffington Post and Forbes.{{cite news |url = http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/18/robots-steal-your-job_n_5687541.html |title = Why Robots Will Steal Your Job, In One 15 Minute Video |work = Huffington Post UK |date = 18 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }}{{cite magazine |last = Kasanoff |first = Bruce |url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucekasanoff/2014/08/18/if-humans-need-not-apply-will-all-our-jobs-disappear/ |title = If 'Humans Need Not Apply,' Will All Our Jobs Disappear? |magazine = Forbes |date = 18 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }} Coverage of the video complimented its presentation, calling the video "well-produced". These publications also praised its premise, calling it "thought-provoking", and "compelling", but also maintaining that the points and topics brought up in the video were "terrifying".{{cite web |last = Roggeveen |first = Sam |url = http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2014/08/18/Humans-need-not-apply-An-economic-horror-movie.aspx |title = Humans need not apply: An economic horror movie |publisher = The Interpreter |date = 18 August 2014 |access-date = 23 August 2014 }} Bruce Kasanoff of Forbes commented that the video was "sobering", and "suggests, in a convincing fashion, that many human jobs will disappear over the coming years, because automation will do them faster, better, and cheaper." The Verge commented, "The video may be too pessimistic by the end, but the thesis still stands."{{Cite news |last=Lecher |first=Colin |date=13 August 2014 |title=Humans are starting to look like horses right before the Model T |work=The Verge |url=https://www.theverge.com/2014/8/13/5999933/robots-taking-jobs-video |access-date=7 September 2022}} Vice Motherboard said, "The rather depressing video makes a strong case for why just about zero jobs are safe, and it's high time we wise up to that fact." World Futures Review called the film's treatment of the topic "brilliantly described".{{Cite journal |last=Goux-Baudiment |first=Fabienne |date=December 2014 |title=Sharing Our Humanity with Robots: What Does It Mean To Be Human? |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1946756715569442 |journal=World Futures Review |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=412–425 |doi=10.1177/1946756715569442 |citeseerx=10.1.1.913.7959 |s2cid=153601222 |issn=1946-7567 }}
After a few days of release, the video reached one million views. As of January 2024, Humans Need Not Apply has reached over 16 million views. It has also received over 360,000 likes {{As of|2023|9|df=EU|lc=y}}.{{Cite journal|last1=Crawford Visbal |first1=Joseph Livingston |last2=Crawford |first2=Livingston |title=Science Popularization Videos by Independent Youtube Creators and User's Appropriation Strategies: Qualitative Analysis of User Comments |date=March 2017 |url=https://library.iated.org/view/CRAWFORDVISBAL2017SCI |url-status=bot: unknown |journal=EDULEARN17 Proceedings |volume=1 |location=Barcelona, Spain |pages=1546–1554 |doi=10.21125/edulearn.2017.1334 |isbn=978-84-697-3777-4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908024733/https://library.iated.org/view/CRAWFORDVISBAL2017SCI |archive-date=8 September 2022 |access-date=8 September 2022 |url-access=subscription }}
In 2024, CGP Grey and Cortex released a podcast retrospective on the 10-year anniversary of the film, in which they discussed developments in automation and how closely it has matched their predictions.{{cite web |last1=Grey |first1=C. G. P. |title=Is AI Still Doom? (Humans Need Not Apply – 10 Years Later) |url=https://cgpgrey.substack.com/p/is-ai-still-doom-humans-need-not |website=CGP Grey |via=Substack|access-date=4 February 2025 |date=23 August 2024}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{YouTube|id=7Pq-S557XQU|title=Humans Need Not Apply}}
- {{IMDb title|5896574}}
Category:2010s English-language films
Category:2014 independent films
Category:2014 short documentary films
Category:British short documentary films
Category:Documentary films about robots
Category:Documentary films about the labor movement
Category:English-language independent films
Category:English-language short documentary films