It's impossible for robots to steal your job - no matter what the Daily Mail says | Dean Burnett

The Daily Mail has reported that robots could 'steal' 15 million UK jobs. But It's practically impossible to 'steal' a job, so why is the notion so persistent?

Stealing. Most dictionaries define "steal" as some variation of "taking another person's property without permission or legal right, and with no intention to return it". You can steal a wide range of things from someone, and you can even do it metaphorically ("stolen my heart", anyone?). But how do you steal someone's job?

A job isn't property in the strictest sense. It's not a possession, a thing we can own. If anything, it's more of an agreement. "I'll do this service for you, and you'll give money to me in return". Is it possible to steal an agreement?