Amazon opened a cashier-free convenience store. What does it mean for the future of retail?

Amazon opened a cashier-free convenience store. What does it mean for the future of retail?

By Jason Kornwitz

News at Northeastern

Amazon opened a convenience store on Monday in downtown Seattle. Known as Amazon Go, it enables shoppers to scan their smartphones with an app, grab what they want from the 1,800-square-foot mini-mart, and leave without paying a cashier. By combining sophisticated computer vision, machine learning algorithms, and sensors, the e-commerce giant tracks what customers have purchased and charges their Amazon accounts for what they take out the door. Amazon didn’t say whether it will open more “Go” stores, but reports suggest that the company could sell the technology to other retailers.We asked […]

How many South Africans could lose their jobs to robots in the next 7 years – and which skills are safer

How many South Africans could lose their jobs to robots in the next 7 years – and which skills are safer

A new report published by the World Economic Forum casts a grim light on the future of jobs across the world, with 1.4 million US jobs alone expected to disrupted by technology and other factors between now and 2026.

The report is an analysis of nearly 1,000 job types across the US economy, encompassing 96% of employment in the country. Its aim is to assess the scale of the re-skilling task required to protect workforces from an expected wave of automation brought on by the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

Drawing on this data for the US economy, the report found that 57% […]

Technology takes the wheel

Technology takes the wheel

The autonomous vehicles seem to promise a bright future. With software on wheels we will drive into an eco friendly, space saving and time efficient world. However, is the idea economically as beneficial as it seems on the technical front?

In 2015, 15.5 million workers were employed in occupations that would be affected (to different degrees) by the introduction of automated vehicles. However, our primary focus revolves around the motor vehicle operators. 3.1 million in number, truck drivers will face the bulk of the job loss caused due to automation.

According to a Goldsman Sachs Economic Research, “when autonomous vehicle saturation […]

Journalist Reviewing Amazon Cashier-less Store Accidentally Shoplifts, Exposes Flaws

Journalist Reviewing Amazon Cashier-less Store Accidentally Shoplifts, Exposes Flaws

The fully automated, cashier-less Amazon Go grocery store made its public debut in Seattle Monday. The ooh’s and ahh’s of a grocery store without any human employees were also met with concerns over the future of automation in the job market and, chiefly, security. What happens if the in-store security systems do not work and there are no humans to stop a shoplifter?

CNBC reporter Deirdre Bosa accidentally found out not long after the store opened. She live-tweeted her journey through Amazon Go, culminating in her purchase of siggi’s yogurt not being charged to her account like it should have […]

‘Reskilling’ Top Of Mind At World Economic Forum In Davos

Two massive macroeconomic trends are colliding at this snowbound congregation of the world’s economic leaders: the insistence on providing a fair work environment for women and minorities, as well as the adverse impacts automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have on the global workforce.

Setting the tone: last November’s The Global Gender Gap Report 2017 from the World Economic Forum (WEF), which sounded the alarm over results that progress toward parity between men and women in technical roles had dropped since the report from the previous year. “In 2017, we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse,” […]

Reskilling: A Mountain To Climb After Technological Disruption

Reskilling: A Mountain To Climb After Technological Disruption

Automation has flared up a worry of potential job cuts across the world among industrialists, skilled employees, and economists. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has caused disruption in various sectors such as manufacturing, BPO, automobile, and others. Many research organizations have rung a bell on huge number of jobs being axed by the next decade due to automation. Many experts opined that AI would be a boon for employees who would acquire skills to work with them and put an axe on employees with low-skilled jobs. The issue of potential unemployment would put a huge pressure on country’s […]

7 Jobs That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Soon Overtake

7 Jobs That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Soon Overtake

PHOTO: Shutterstock It is inevitable that a certain number of jobs are going to be lost to artificial intelligence. However, it is also clear that a lot of other jobs are going to be created as new roles around AI emerge. Instead of insisting on the fact that certain jobs will go away, it would probably be more accurate to describe the employment market as one in which the roles and type of work we do is changing dramatically. Impact Of AI

As industrialization took hold in the 19 th and 20 th century we lost some jobs but […]

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

As world leaders gather for Davos , one of the common and continuing themes is the emerging threat of automation and the consequent effect on economic inequality and global stability. Responding to the so-called fourth industrial revolution has become one of the biggest topics of discussion in the world of technology and politics, and it’s not surprising that anxiety runs high.

A lot of the current conversation has been shaped by research with scary conclusions such as “47% of total US employment is at risk from automation.” In a survey last year of 1,600 Quartz readers, 90% of responders thought […]

Automation To Hit Women In the Workforce Harder Than Men, Study Finds

Automation To Hit Women In the Workforce Harder Than Men, Study Finds

Working Woman.helpsg/Pixabay The biggest threat to the modern working individual is not foreigners or bad economics, but rather, automation. Robots taking over manufacturing has been an issue for the working class in the past, but now the technology has advanced a lot more. As a result, no job is safe from automation and it is going to hit women a lot harder than men, according to one study.

The World Economic Forum recently published research findings that indicated how intelligent machines will make a lot of jobs that are largely filled by women obsolete. According to the study, up to […]

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

As world leaders gather for Davos , one of the common and continuing themes is the emerging threat of automation and the consequent effect on economic inequality and global stability. Responding to the so-called fourth industrial revolution has become one of the biggest topics of discussion in the world of technology and politics, and it’s not surprising that anxiety runs high.

A lot of the current conversation has been shaped by research with scary conclusions such as “47% of total US employment is at risk from automation.” In a survey last year of 1,600 Quartz readers, 90% of responders thought […]