Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Your job cannot be automated? Then you need to worry!

Copyright, TheHill.com

One of the greatest labor force changes of the 20th century was the movement of workers out of farming. In 1900, more than two out of five workers were in agriculture. Now it is less than two workers out of every 100.

It’s not that people stopped eating. Rather, farm machinery and innovation increased the amount of food that could be produced per farm worker by more than a factor of 10 . Food got cheaper and that got people to buy more food, but not 10 times as much. The end result has been fewer jobs in […]

Fears over jobs lost to automation may well be misplaced

© Getty Images One of the greatest labor force changes of the 20th century was the movement of workers out of farming. In 1900, more than two out of five workers were in agriculture. Now it is less than two workers out of every 100.

It’s not that people stopped eating. Rather, farm machinery and innovation increased the amount of food that could be produced per farm worker by more than a factor of 10 . Food got cheaper and that got people to buy more food, but not 10 times as much. The end result has been fewer jobs […]

Robot WARNING: AI to ‘replace human mind’ as machines TAKE OVER economy

Robot WARNING: AI to 'replace human mind' as machines TAKE OVER economy

TAKEOVER: An expert has warned jobs are under threat from robots Fears are continuing to rise that the rapid development of robots will spark unemployment, because they could be better and cheaper than real people.

AI expert, Dr Subhash Kak, previously told Daily Star Online that robots will sink the world into "unemployed despair" in a hellish "dystopia" .

He also warned self-driving cars will replace a third of all human jobs.Now Dr Kak – a professor in computer science – has issued a fresh rallying cry as he believes AI may replace the human mind to carry out all tasks […]

Nelson: There’s no escaping the rise of robots

Nelson: There's no escaping the rise of robots

Visitors to a Tokyo hotel are greeted and checked in by a robot with celluloid skin and blinking eyes, writes Chris Nelson. Calgary Tokyo — Across the desk, our eyes met and my heart leapt. Then, she blinked and broke the spell, leaving in its place a vague worry about the ongoing drive to hike Alberta’s minimum wage.

Now, down the years, I’ve set foot in some weird and wonderful places, but never one quite as strange – literally and figuratively – as the Henn na Hotel in the upscale Ginza district of Tokyo.

Loosely translated, the name means “strange,” and […]

Unusual level of volatility in the decades ahead: Bain

Unusual level of volatility in the decades ahead: Bain

A recent report by Bain predicts that three mega-trends—changing demographics, automation and rising inequality—will shape the world in the next decade and beyond.

A robot controls forklift truck. Photo: Alamy “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities, a novel set in a society on the brink of a revolution. It is also one of the most popular opening lines in literature, as it resonates with the perpetual struggle of the haves and the have nots. Consulting firm Bain & Co. recently released a report […]

More or less jobs: The AI/Automation takeover

More or less jobs: The AI/Automation takeover

By 2030 about 800 million workers worldwide may be out of jobs due to automation, according to global management consultants McKinsey Global Institute . The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Future of Jobs report , based on research by the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University predicts that AI will “outperform humans in tasks such as:” translating languages (by 2024)

writing high-school essays (by 2026)

driving a truck (by 2027) But, “ jobs such as: working in retail (by 2031) writing a bestselling book (by 2049) working as a surgeon (by 2053) will take longer to replace, as robots […]

The great artificial intelligence challenge

The great artificial intelligence challenge

Illustration: Jayachandran/Mint Since Robert Solow, economists know that technical change is the most important force to have driven economic growth in advanced economies. One could argue that this should settle the debate about the effects of artificial intelligence (AI)—it should already be crowned the best invention since electricity. Sadly, access to electricity killed millions of jobs and the fear that AI will do the same has crippled the enthusiasm for it.

AI is going to radically improve productivity and welfare in ways such as accelerating vaccine development, improving medical diagnostics, increasing highway safety and reducing traffic congestion. But much of […]

Hale: Fighting automation fears with creativity

Hale: Fighting automation fears with creativity

In 1930, a time of true depression and fear of future, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that 15-hour work days would be the norm for his grandkids. Clearly, things haven’t quite worked out that way.

While many have wisely predicted that new technology would increase prosperity and lower drudgery, the economy is still fraught with worry for most families, certainly those I know. And we are watching our normal disappear. Those jobs and industries we counted on to keep people working are disappearing.

Robots can flip burgers and drop fry baskets into hot bubbling grease, and they can be timed […]

Column: Driverless tractor-trailers could open up more jobs

The future of trucking may tell us a lot about the future of work. It’s no secret that many Americans fear losing their jobs to automation. In a Pew Research Center poll last October, nearly three-quarters of respondents worried that “computers and robots could do most of the work currently done by humans.” And yet the job market seems to be sending the opposite message: With a low unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, many companies say they can’t find good workers.

Trucking symbolizes the contradiction. Trucking companies complain they can’t hire enough drivers, and the situation will get worse before […]

Gig economy: An empowering trend here to stay or a stumbling block that compromises on labour welfare?

Gig economy: An empowering trend here to stay or a stumbling block that compromises on labour welfare?

We look into the good, bad and ugly of the gig economy, a fast catching trend that promises to revolutionise the Indian economy in the coming decades. Imagine the nature of a job that is flexible, convenient and lets you choose exactly what you want to do from the choicest of options. As utopian as it sounds, jobs as these are a commonplace reality in India, a booming economy that is slowly shifting towards a gig-based economy (also referred to as peer-to-peer economy or shared economy or collaborative economy), a fast catching trend that involves outsourcing of work, project-based […]