Author: automata

The 3 Ways Work Can Be Automated

The 3 Ways Work Can Be Automated

We are at an interesting tipping point regarding how and where work gets done. As business leaders and managers, we have become increasingly capable of engaging a workforce that is some combination of virtual and on site, part time and full time, permanent and contingent. But just when we’ve sorted out preferred management routines, there is an entirely new landscape emerging with technology options central to the work and possibly your business model: work automation. How, when, and where should leaders be thinking about applying the various automation technologies to their businesses?

There are currently three technological enablers of work […]

Clinton is wrong. You shouldn’t have to work to have a place in America.

Clinton is wrong. You shouldn’t have to work to have a place in America.

Hillary Clinton tours a factory during a campaign stop. (Chris Keane/Reuters) It is only because of audience member Ken Bone’s question about the effect that energy policy would have on employment at power plants that the presidential candidates addressed jobs at all during their debate Sunday night. But the night’s biggest statement about work didn’t come in response to Bone.

It came instead as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answered a question about Islamophobia. She said, “My vision of America is an America where everyone has a place, if you are willing to work hard, do your part and you contribute […]

Will the ‘Rise of the Machines’ Require a Unique Human Response?

Will the ‘Rise of the Machines’ Require a Unique Human Response?

Automation anxieties have accelerated in recent years, as our increasingly smart machines are now being applied to activities requiring cognitive, physical and social capabilities that not long ago were viewed as the exclusive domain of humans. Concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its long-term impact may well be in a class by themselves. Like no other technology, AI forces us to explore the very boundaries between machines and humans.

Few topics are as important as the future of work in our 21st century digital economy, given our justifiable anxieties about technological unemployment . “The economic challenge of the future will […]

Will jobs exist in 2050?

Will jobs exist in 2050?

As we develop artificial intelligence, what will happen to future jobs? Photograph: KTS Design/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF There’s no question that technology is drastically changing the way we work, but what will the job market look like by 2050? Will 40% of roles have been lost to automation – as predicted by Oxford university economists Dr Carl Frey and Dr Michael Osborne – or will there still be jobs even if the nature of work is exceptionally different from today? To address these issues, the Guardian hosted a roundtable discussion, in association with professional services firm Deloitte, which […]

The Great Unravelling: How Digitalisation will change Society

The Great Unravelling: How Digitalisation will change Society

The digitalisation of industry is a revolution. It will accelerate innovation and drive productivity. It heralds a new era and promises a future of smart manufacturing, customised products and increased coordination between supply and demand.

Some, however, are more cautious about the whole thing. While the Commission presented its strategy to digitise industry and, in essence, support the automation of production, Commissioner for Employment Marianne Thyssen stated that the industrial transition towards a digital revolution entails a “fundamental transformation of the world of work.” How she sees this transformation exactly is not clear. But her statement seems to indicate an […]

How the Gig Economy Profits off Desperation

How the Gig Economy Profits off Desperation

Illustration by Laurent Hrybyk “Children are running the company [Homejoy] and they act like they are still in college. The poor cleaners are being treated like slaves; the children make fun of them behind their backs; this company is a tax-evader and a moral concern to the working class.” While the gig economy promises to free workers from the traditional, drab 9-to-5 work environment, the reality is quite different. Many contractors employed in gig economy–type jobs lack health care and retirement benefits, are at the mercy of their employers’ scheduling needs, and — despite being promised so much freedom […]

Obama warns of the danger of AI wiping out jobs

Obama warns of the danger of AI wiping out jobs

Technology is replacing jobs. Are you ready? President Obama joined a chorus of those warning of the potential downsides of artificial intelligence.

In an interview with Wired Magazine , Obama spoke of redesigning the social compact and starting a conversation around fair wages. He cited teachers as being underpaid, and called for a reexamination of what we value, and what we’ll pay for.

Obama addressed basic income, a proposal for all citizens to receive a government stipend in order to meet their costs of living. The idea has gained recent support among some futurists and economists, given concerns over how […]

Drones Can Deliver Burritos, Blood Supplies — and Bombs

Drones Can Deliver Burritos, Blood Supplies — and Bombs

Arbitragery | Flickr ISIS turns toy drones into killing machines. On the battlefield in Iraq and Syria, ISIS is using hobbyist drones — the kind you can buy on Amazon — to send explosive devices behind enemy lines. Last week they used one to kill two Kurdish fighters ( The Washington Post) . The development is hardly a surprise; from the smelting of bronze to the splitting of atoms, humanity has always turned its technological breakthroughs into war-fighting tools. The U.S., of course, has been deploying relatively large killer drones for a decade. Now we’re seeing this type of […]

Tech Revolution But Few Jobs

Tech Revolution But Few Jobs

The digital and technology revolution has powered up internet searches, social media, smartphone apps and ecommerce over the past decade to the delight of Google, Twitter, Facebook and Apple to name but a few. But although the digital world has expanded, the exploding tech industry has not met expectations in the real world and has created surprisingly few jobs.

The giants Google Alphabet and Facebook had only 74,505 employees between them at the end of 2015, which is much less than Microsoft by about one-third, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For a clearer perspective, Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for […]

Automation Angst – The Polarization of the Labor Market in the 21st Century

Automation Angst – The Polarization of the Labor Market in the 21st Century

Success achieving the American Dream of homeownership is, in large part, dependent on the ability to earn a good income. For much of the last century, a job in manufacturing provided a stable and solid income. In fact, after World War II, the United States was the manufacturer to the world, as America’s post-war economic boom changed the way we worked, where we lived and our ability to own a piece of the American Dream.

Now, just as the Industrial Revolution transformed the way we worked at the turn of the 20 th century, the “information revolution” is profoundly re-shaping […]