Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Your Job Will Be Automated—Here’s How to Figure out When A.I. Could Take Over

Your Job Will Be Automated—Here’s How to Figure out When A.I. Could Take Over

Automation is increasingly making its way into the workplace, raising concerns among employees about the ways technology will change their jobs—or eliminate them entirely. A June 2019 report by Oxford Economics predicts that 8.5% of the world’s manufacturing positions alone—some 20 million jobs—will be displaced by robots by 2030.

But that’s the wrong way to think about automation and jobs, says Tom Mitchell, professor and interim dean of Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science. Instead, you should look at the tasks involved in your job and evaluate how easily those tasks can be automated.

“Some people have a single […]

The %$@! robot that swiped my job

The %$@! robot that swiped my job

[Editor’s Note: Below is an excerpt from the new book Talking to Robots: Tales From Our Human-Robot Futures . The story takes place in the future, and by envisioning events to come, it takes on issues relevant to the present.]

For a long time in this possible robot future, we wondered if the genius engineers and executives who had pushed so hard to automate everything under the sun—100 percent sure that this was good and noble—would themselves be replaced by robots. The answer came sooner than expected as Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and other top […]

Like previous technological innovation, AI and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But gaining this potential will require development and diffusion of these technologies carefully

Like previous technological innovation, AI and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But gaining this potential will require development and diffusion of these technologies carefully

By Christopher Pissarides and Jacques Bughin

Public discussion of the effects of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) often focuses on the productivity benefits for companies and the economy, on the one hand, and on the potential downside for workers, on the other. Yet there is a critical third dimension that should not be overlooked: the impact of new technologies on wellbeing.

Historically, technological innovation has had positive effects on wellbeing extending far beyond what is captured by standard economic metrics such as GDP. Vaccinations, new pharmaceuticals, and medical innovations such as X-rays and MRIs have vastly improved human health and […]

No college degree? Your best bet might be serving the rich

No college degree? Your best bet might be serving the rich

The fastest-growing segment of the U.S. job market for people without a college education is in personal care and service jobs, analyses of labor data show.

Such "wealth work" jobs mostly consist of providing services to affluent Americans, like yard work, dog-walking and massage.

While plentiful, these jobs tend to pay far less than the typical U.S. job, offer few benefits and are more tenuous. Although Americans without college degrees have been steadily squeezed out of the labor market in recent decades, a new career path beckons: working for the rich.This new "servant class" tends to the yards, […]

The Biggest Challenges Facing Robots

The Biggest Challenges Facing Robots

When you think of bringing robots hitting the consumer market, you’re probably inundated with images of machines that clean your house, walk your dog, or, in more nefarious cases, build an army to enslave humankind. Despite predictions and projections of robots walking among us, the truth is we still have a long way to go before we can relinquish our mundane day-to-day tasks to a pile of circuits. Below are some of the main challenges facing modern-day robotics and what needs to happen before these mechanical helpers can walk among us. The Human “Swap”

Outside of the physical and […]

DOLE advises workers to up-skill in view of shifts at work brought about by work automation

DOLE advises workers to up-skill in view of shifts at work brought about by work automation

The labor department said workers need to upgrade their skills in view of the automation of work. Department of Labor and Employment Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique Tutay (FACEBOOK) “We have to prepare ourselves to transition our current skills because the new occupations that will be created will require a separate or another kind of skills you will need,” Department of Labor and Employment Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique Tutay said Wednesday after the Kapihan on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Manila.

“We have to assess our current skills and evaluate the requirements of the jobs […]

These Are Israel’s Highest Paying Jobs — and the Ones That Are Dying

These Are Israel’s Highest Paying Jobs — and the Ones That Are Dying

A Google Developers conference, in Krakow, Poland, September 6, 2017. With unemployment under 4% and wages rising, it’s a great time to be a worker in Israel. Unless, that is, your occupation is dying out.

Typists and clerks have lost out to computers and other forms of automation, while gas station attendants are no longer in demand as self-service pumps become the default. As a Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry report issued Tuesday shows, these occupations saw their numbers fall by over 10% in 2012-16.

Other jobs are showing signs of obsolescence by virtue of the fact that the […]

Worker pay and benefits growing at slower pace, ECI shows, in another sign of ebbing inflation

Worker pay and benefits growing at slower pace, ECI shows, in another sign of ebbing inflation

Worker pay and benefits aren’t growing quite as fast as they were a year or two ago. The numbers: The cost to businesses of employing American workers rose at a slower pace in the second quarter, offering more evidence that labor costs are not adding much to inflation.

The employment cost index rose 0.6% in the second quarter, the government said Wednesday . Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.7% increase.

The increase in compensation gains over the past year, what’s more, slipped to 2.7% from 2.8%.That’s the slowest pace in a year and a half and below the postrecession […]

Economist Daron Acemoglu named Institute Professor

Acemoglu: ‘My work has not been in any way a static thing’

Economics professor Daron Acemoglu was named Institute Professor July 10.

Acemoglu is the winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Why Nations Fail . The Tech sat down with Professor Acemoglu to discuss his research and experiences at MIT. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. The Tech: What does the title of Institute Professor mean to you? Daron Acemoglu: It’s a great honor. If you look at the list of people who have […]

Don’t Squander the Techno-Revolution

Don’t Squander the Techno-Revolution

Getty Images Like past waves of technological innovation, the new era of artificial intelligence and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But realizing this potential will require governments and businesses to manage the development and diffusion of frontier technologies carefully.

LONDON – Public discussion of the effects of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) often focuses on the productivity benefits for companies and the economy, on the one hand, and on the potential downside for workers, on the other. Yet there is a critical third dimension that should not be overlooked: the impact of new […]