Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

As Amazon pushed forward with robots, workers find new roles

As Amazon pushed forward with robots, workers find new roles

FLORENCE: Nissa Scott started working at the cavernous Amazon warehouse in southern New Jersey late last year, stacking plastic bins the size of small ottomans. It was not, she says, the most stimulating activity. And lifting the bins, which often weigh 25 pounds each, was also tiring over 10-hour shifts.

Now Scott, 21, watches her replacement — a giant, bright yellow mechanical arm — do the stacking.

Her new job at Amazon is to baby-sit several robots at a time, troubleshooting them when necessary and making sure they have bins to load. On a recent afternoon, a claw at end of […]

As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles

As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles

FLORENCE, N.J. — Nissa Scott started working at the cavernous Amazon warehouse in southern New Jersey late last year, stacking plastic bins the size of small ottomans. It was not, she says, the most stimulating activity. And lifting the bins, which often weigh 25 pounds each, was also tiring over 10-hour shifts.

Now Ms. Scott, 21, watches her replacement — a giant, bright yellow mechanical arm — do the stacking.

Her new job at Amazon is to babysit several robots at a time, troubleshooting them when necessary and making sure they have bins to load. On a recent afternoon, a claw […]

Employment in age of data

My objection to universal basic income (UBI) is that it misunderstands the nature of the problem of employment in the age of automation and data. I agree that there is reason to be alarmed that we may face a future when there are no jobs for people who want jobs and historically were able to find jobs. My with the UBI solution is that the real problem is the lack of jobs instead of the lack of income. Income without a job does not address the fundamental problem of loss of work. The primary benefit of work is the […]

Trump Can’t Stop Progress, But He Can Actually Support American Workers

Trump Can’t Stop Progress, But He Can Actually Support American Workers

A programmer created an AI to write the new Game of Thrones novel, Vice reports. There are two books still planned in the series but author George R.R. Martin has been remarkably slow in punching them out. (The HBO series has already overtaken the books, with the television writers writing their own plot at this time that may or may not match up with what the novelist eventually comes up with.)

With no release date in sight for the next series title, this could be the nearest thing to a new release in the series for some time.

But it’s a […]

Automation Armageddon – Fact or Fiction?

Automation Armageddon – Fact or Fiction?

Automation is transforming our economy. Job losses over the coming decades may be as high as 47 percent, some analysts predict. But how accurate are these warnings? Is your job at risk? Take a deep breath

The reality is far more nuanced than many analysts let on. In fact, dire warnings about machine learning and augmented intelligence can be misleading. Context is key. So let’s take a step back and look at how many jobs (and what kinds) will be impacted by automation. First, some automation data

Automation will displace almost 22.7 million jobs by 2025, according […]

Economy Watch: Tech Set to Disrupt Retail, Industrial Employment

Economy Watch: Tech Set to Disrupt Retail, Industrial Employment

Some 80 percent of jobs in transportation, warehousing and logistics, and 63 percent of jobs in sales are susceptible to automation in the not-so-distant future, according to the latest Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions report. Retail is one industry in which employment is likely to vanish, but unlike manufacturing jobs, which are highly concentrated, the downfall of retail employment will affect every city and region.

Currently, U.S. companies employ 2 million people just to do stock and order fulfillment work and more than 90 percent of warehouse picking is currently done by hand. Migrating to automated picking results in productivity […]

AI Uber alles?

AI Uber alles?

Rise of Machines debate Robotics is about much more than just industrial hardware – the subject of the first part of this two part special report . The “wave of creative destruction” (to quote Sean Culey) also includes AI, chatbots, and the challenge of creating robots to care for humans, rather than simply replace them with cheap, smart labour. And it should be about entirely new business processes.

Avida Hancock is COO of UCL spinout Satalia, which – despite Hancock’s job title – operates without managers or administrators. Founded in 2008, the company is positioned at the new sweet spot […]

Hooray — Here Come the Robots!

Hooray — Here Come the Robots!

Fears that robots and artificial intelligence will make human labor obsolete are overblown. But we’ll have to work hard to adapt. Japan is at the forefront of the robotics revolution. They are starting to take over professions such as nursing. Source: Getty It’s one more quiet morning on Main Street, sometime in the 2030s. Outside, the only noise is the hum of driverless cars and the whir of delivery drones overhead. In the hotel, a robot concierge waits to carry the bags; in the supermarket, shoppers choose from robot-stacked shelves. There’s no bustle at the factory gate, or outside […]

Automation to Transform Employment for Americans

Fears of Robots Eliminating Jobs is Overblown, Says Machine Vision Manufacturer

WOBURN, MA, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 — Job insecurity has fueled a general unease among American workers, driven not by foreign competition but by advancing technology. According to pessimists, millions of jobs will disappear in coming years because of robots, driverless vehicles and Artificial Intelligence, sparking mass social unrest and upheaval.

These fears are greatly overblown, says Donal Waide, Director of Sales for BitFlow, a manufacturer of machine vision components used in robotics, automation systems and quality control."Technology has altered the employment prospects of Americans since the automobile closed down […]

Jeffrey Scharf: Everybody’s Business: Tax on robots: A modest proposal

Everybody’s Business

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Bill Gates — co-founder of Microsoft — endorsed a “robot tax” to slow automation and fund jobs for displaced workers. The idea has been picked up by San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim.How might such a tax work? I have my own modest proposal for putting robots and people on an equal footing.Companies will no longer be able to purchase robots. They will, however, be able to rent robots. They will have to pay the rental companies a minimum fee of at least $15 per hour for such robots. The robots will be programmed to […]