Murphy thinks robots will stay well beyond the pandemic. But with unemployment rates worse than anytime since the Great Depression, there are legitimate fears that robots will take away people’s jobs.

Murphy insists that’s not the case: “There’s so many aspects to the use of robots and the idea of replacing or displacing workers typically in a disaster. Robots are never used to replace a person, a person just faster, better, smarter. You’re using it. They’re usually smaller or doing things that a person couldn’t do or it’s just way too unsafe for them to do.”

Futurist Ford disagrees. He thinks robots are becoming more adaptable through AI technology and that repetitive, simple jobs will disappear — and with that, job loss and income.

“We’re going to have to figure out how to live and function in a world where there might not be enough work to go around,” Ford said.

While our experts may not agree on the future of work, they do agree that robot use is here to stay.