Employees to get microchips implanted in them

A company has found a new way in order to keep robots from taking over human jobs: by implanting microchips in its employees.

Three Square Market (32M), a snack stall supplier in the US, has for the first time initiated a program to implant all of their employees with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in their hands between the thumb and forefinger. The company expects to ‘chip’ more than 50 of its staff members by next week. However, this initiative is completely optional for the employees and if they later change their minds, they can have the implant removed.

The microchip which is almost the size of a rice grain will enable the employees to carry out number of usual office chores with an easy wave of their hand, informs Science Alert.

32M CEO Todd Westby said, “We foresee the use of RFID technology to drive everything from making purchases in our office break room market, opening doors, use of copy machines, logging into our office computers, unlocking phones, sharing business cards, storing medical/health information, and used as payment at other RFID terminals.”

The technology of near-field communication (NFC) is being used in those chips, a similar technology that is used in contactless credit cards, mobile payment systems and animal tag implants.

The implanting costs about US$300 per chip, which will be paid on employees’ behalf by the firm. Also keeping in view the security concerns, the chips won’t include GPS component and couldn’t get hacked thus, keeping employee tracking out of question.

Todd told ABC News, “There's really nothing to hack in it because it is encrypted just like credit cards are. The chances of hacking into it are almost non-existent because it's not connected to the internet. The only way for somebody to get connectivity to it is to basically chop off your hand.”

Foreseeing a positive future for these chips, Todd expressed, “It’s the next thing that’s inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it.”