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Walk any direction in Las Vegas and it's easy to find machines doing human work.
Check-in kiosks have replaced people at the front desk of hotels. Text-bots now make restaurant recommendations instead of a concierge. Robots can serve food, and behind the bar, machines are pouring out drinks.
Automation and technology replacing jobs has long been a conversation in Nevada's most populated city. Studies show that between 38% to 65% of jobs there could be automated by 2035.
With the use of artificial intelligence on the rise, the economy of this city --which relies on tourism and hospitality — is at an inflection point, as companies look to technology to reduce labor costs.
"Wherever the resort industry can replace their workers and not affect productivity, profits or the customer experience — wherever they can do that with artificial intelligence... they will," said John Restrepo, principal at RCG Economics in Las Vegas.
"The question is, how do you factor in and how do you adapt your economic development strategy, your community strategy, your resiliency strategy to accommodate a world where certain jobs no longer exist?" he said.
Restrepo said he believes the city has to diversify its economy to be less reliant on tourism and hospitality.
"We need to move ... to those occupations that are more highly skilled, that are not easily replaced by AI and that provide a greater level of balance and resilience so we're not so hard-hit," Restrepo said.
The Culinary Union is prepared to strike over AI
Unions in Las Vegas are closely watching the changes. The largest union in Nevada, the Culinary Union, represents 60,000 service and hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno. Later this year, it hopes to have a new negotiated contract that includes protections against AI replacing jobs.
"We had a huge fight about tech in our previous contract. We're going to have the same fight this time around," Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the union, told NPR.
In its last contract in 2018, the union pushed for companies to agree to a six-month warning for workers for new technology introduced in the workplace, as well as free training on how to use the new technology.
"How do our folks make sure that the jobs that remain, that we can work them? And that we're not thrown out like an old shoe? We're not going to stand for that," Pappageorge said.
While the precise impact of AI on service work is not yet clear, the union is prepared to make AI an issue to strike over when it negotiates its new contract, Pappageorge said.
"We'd like to say we're going to be able to get an agreement. But if we have to, we're going to have a big fight and do whatever it takes, including a strike on technology," he said.
AI and machines can't replace the human touch, some workers say
Sabrina Bergman works at the Tipsy Robot, a bar inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas strip. Her job is to help the robot do its job, tending bar. When the robot accidentally tips over a cup, she resets it. If the robot doesn't pour a full drink, she tops it off.
Bergman said she's not worried about the machine replacing her entirely — even though the bar just opened a second location earlier this year.
Bergman and other service workers told NPR there are some human jobs that technology can't eliminate. Machines don't have the same human touch and cannot provide the same experience, they said — and often times, the machines add more work.
"We have a lot of guests that are regular guests, and they come for the personal interaction. They don't come for the technology," said Holly Lang, a cocktail waitress at the MGM Grand. "There's some things you can't replace."
Lang said she's confident the Culinary Union will establish good protections. "A lot of people are concerned that it'll take our jobs but we have more comfort in the fact that we have contracts to protect us ... we've fought hard to keep our jobs for a long time," Lang said.
It's not just service workers who will be affected
Artificial intelligence won't just impact lower-wage jobs. Technology like ChatGPT, which is a form of generative AI, will impact white collar jobs, too, in fields like accounting and data entry.
In some cases, AI will help make workers more productive, while other roles might be eliminated entirely. AI is also likely to create brand new jobs that don't even exist yet.
Las Vegas city officials are starting to brace workers for that shift now. In August, the local Chamber of Commerce hosted a panel on using AI. A few dozen people attended, including Tony Yee, who owns a small moving company in the city.
He said he wants to learn how to use AI to build his company, and use the technology to help him with tasks like dealing with customer evaluations.
"I am really intrigued with AI and I know it's the next frontier. It's just like how people didn't believe in the internet in the '90s," Yee said.
"This is the next revolution, and if you're not on board, you're going to be left behind. And I don't want to be left behind."
Audio story produced by Lexie Schapitl
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Transcript :
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Las Vegas relies on casino workers, bartenders, cashiers, valet drivers, among many service and hospitality jobs. But automation and artificial intelligence are taking over some of these tasks. So how does a city built on service work adapt? NPR's Deepa Shivaram brings us this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF CASINO MACHINES DINGING)
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Spend just a few hours on the strip in Las Vegas and you'll run into machines doing human jobs everywhere. Instead of checking in with the person at the front desk of a hotel, you can do it on a screen. If you go down to the casino, the machines will learn what kind of games you like and suggest more of them. And if you head over to Planet Hollywood, you could be served by a robot bartender.
SABRINA BERGMAN: Hi, sir. How are you doing?
SHIVARAM: That's Sabrina Bergman. She works at the Tipsy Robot, and her job is to help the robot bartender do its job. When it accidentally knocks over a cup, she'll fix it. If a drink is only poured halfway, she'll top it off at the bar.
BERGMAN: At the beginning, I got a lot of jokes, you know? Like, oh, are you a robot? You know what I mean? At the beginning - now, people are, like, used to it.
SHIVARAM: A second location of Tipsy Robot just opened up in a different hotel on the Strip. But Bergman isn't worried about the robot replacing her.
BERGMAN: I don't know. I think we're just like, oh, whatever.
SHIVARAM: She says that maybe in 10 years things will start to change, and she's not wrong. Various studies predict that by 2035, automation in Vegas could impact between 38- to 65% of jobs. And in addition to automation, artificial intelligence is becoming more commonplace too. So now a city that's heavily relied on tourism to keep it afloat is trying to prepare for a drastically changing economy.
JOHN RESTREPO: The question is how do you factor in and how do you adapt your economic development strategy to accommodate a world where certain jobs may no longer exist?
SHIVARAM: That's John Restrepo. He's an economist with the group RCG Economics based in Las Vegas. He says companies have a big incentive to cut certain jobs, like cashiers.
RESTREPO: What do companies have to do to increase their margins? And what happens is - oftentimes is companies increase their margins by reducing costs, and labor is a big cost.
SHIVARAM: But in addition to being a service town, Las Vegas is also a union town. The Culinary Union is the largest union in Nevada. Back in 2018, they negotiated protections in their contract that addressed technology and automation. If a company is planning new technology in the workplace, they have to give workers an advance notice. And it's mandatory to provide free training on how to use the technology. Ted Pappageorge helped to negotiate that contract five years ago. He's now the secretary-treasurer of the union, and he's involved in talks for a new contract. At a rally to show support for workers on the Strip, he says they're prepared to make artificial intelligence an issue to strike over.
TED PAPPAGEORGE: Look, we had a huge fight about technology in previous contract. We're going to have the same fight this time around.
SHIVARAM: But he says it's still early. No one's really sure how much AI could replace jobs and workers. But his priority is making sure that workers have a safety net.
PAPPAGEORGE: How do our folks make sure that the jobs that remain, that we can work them and that we're not thrown out like an old shoe? We're not going to stand for that.
SHIVARAM: Experts say artificial intelligence will affect different types of jobs in different ways. Some jobs will be wiped out. Some will require retraining. And in some cases, it could help make workers more productive. And then there's the brand-new jobs that AI could create that don't even exist yet. In Las Vegas, city officials know they have to start preparing for whatever changes are coming right now, and that starts with getting the community familiar with AI in the first place.
TONY YEE: Hey, take care, man. Yeah.
SHIVARAM: At the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, local business owners, teachers and entrepreneurs have gathered to find out how AI can be used in their lives. Tony Yee is at this panel. He owns a small moving company in Las Vegas, and he's looking to learn about AI so he can grow his business.
YEE: I'm really intrigued with AI, and I know it's the next frontier. So it's just like how people didn't believe in the internet back in the '90s, this is the next revolution. And if you're not on board, then you're going to be left behind. That's just what - and I don't want to be left behind.
SHIVARAM: Eventually, Tony wants to be able to use AI to essentially function as his HR department to handle things like evaluations from customers, a job that previously he'd have to hire another person to do. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, Las Vegas.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.