Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income – is Britain ready?

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income - is Britain ready?

The concept of universal basic income – an unconditional payment for all in a society – is one that goes back centuries, but what are the main arguments in its favour? 1. Automation

As more and more jobs become automated – that is they are done by machines rather than humans – the main benefiters will be those who own the machines while human workers will face mass unemployment. Why pay staff to serve tables in restaurants when it becomes cheap enough for robots to do the same job and not get tired? Why pay cab drivers when […]

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income – is Britain ready?

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income - is Britain ready?

The concept of universal basic income – an unconditional payment for all in a society – is one that goes back centuries, but what are the main arguments in its favour? 1. Automation

As more and more jobs become automated – that is they are done by machines rather than humans – the main benefiters will be those who own the machines while human workers will face mass unemployment. Why pay staff to serve tables in restaurants when it becomes cheap enough for robots to do the same job and not get tired? Why pay cab drivers when […]

Just how quickly will AI take your job?

Mother Jones writer Kevin Drum argues in a longish piece that AI improvement has gone exponential , and mass technological unemployment is nigh — if it isn’t starting already. So policymakers better start seriously considering a rich variety of responses: universal basic income, new taxes on smart robots, high taxes on rich humans, and AI-robot nationalization. It all certainly makes for interesting speculation. And stories about stunning advances, such as AlphaGo Zero, give such speculation a degree of weight.

But that’s as far as it goes, or at least should go. I wish Drum had given more time to experts […]

There’s No You in AI

There’s No You in AI

This thoughtful piece on what ‘robots’ are going to do to employment by Kevin Drum might be published in Mother Jones (and it comes with quite a few Mother Jones flourishes), but take the time to read it, (very) stiff drink in hand.

Drum’s focus is less on robots (as conventionally understood) than on Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is improving exponentially, a product of both better computer hardware and software. Hardware has historically followed a growth curve called Moore’s law, in which power and efficiency double every couple of years, and recent improvements in software algorithms have been even more […]

Yep, We Should Be Scared Of AI

They had invited me to talk about the technological singularity: the moment when computer intelligence surpasses human intelligence.

"Is it true?" they asked, brows furrowed. "Are the robots going to kill us all?"

"Very possibly," I replied. "But that’s not why we should be scared."Let me explain.First of all, we shouldn’t be scared of the thing the movies tell us to be scared of.We shouldn’t be scared of the Terminator or I, Robot. We shouldn’t be scared of the robots getting mad at us, or wanting revenge. Even if we are awful to them.We shouldn’t be scared of these things because, […]

European Companies Are Investing at Home Again

European Companies Are Investing at Home Again

European business is coming home.

Daimler AG is planning to spend billions to get its German factories ready for an electric-car push. Property giant Unibail-Rodamco SE is expanding its shopping-mall footprint across the region and laser-equipment maker Trumpf GmbH has built a new distribution center in Germany to handle surging demand.

For years, European business has chased growth abroad, spending billions to build new factories in the U.S., Mexico, China, Brazil and other fast-growing emerging economies while investment in Europe languished. Now, as growth takes hold in Europe nearly a decade after the financial crisis, industry is investing in Europe again."What’s […]

The flying drones putting workers out of a job

The flying drones putting workers out of a job

Enable it in your browser or download Flash Player here .Sorry, you need Flash to play this. Media captionPinc’s flying drone scans warehouse packages Flying drones and robots now patrol distribution warehouses – they’ve become workhorses of the e-commerce era online that retailers can’t do without. It is driving down costs but it is also putting people out of work: what price progress?

It could be a scene from Blade Runner 2049; the flying drone hovers in the warehouse aisle, its spinning rotors filling the cavernous space with a buzzing whine.

It edges close to the packages stacked on the shelf […]

“Singapore companies need to be on the faster side of change”

“Singapore companies need to be on the faster side of change”

Tharman blasts HR in Budget attack on ageism HR leaders have been urged by Deputy PM Tharman Shanmugaratnam to stop their “unstated discrimination” against older workers looking for jobs.

Are you asking illegal interview questions? Have you ever asked a job applicant how old they are? If you have, you might be breaking the law. A leading Singapore employment lawyer looks at which interview questions could land you in hot water.

The CEO of a leading educational institute says Singapore firms can’t afford to fall behind when it comes to tech advancements and robotic innovation.“Singapore companies need […]

Automation Nation: Financial Advisors’ Daily Digest

Automation Nation: Financial Advisors' Daily Digest

Summary

The big trend in the world of work is that a declining number of people are working.

One Road Research Company discusses the value of human capital in Asian economies.Charles Hugh Smith: Middle-class wealth is locked up in housing and retirement funds.Engineers on this forum have lamented that robots were taking their jobs. We’ve heard from professors about university budgets that have squeezed them out, employing adjunct faculty with lesser pay and benefits. Not a few retired corporate employees of various stripes have noted that their careers ended earlier than anticipated, often as a means of cutting expenses.Those reporting […]

China must grasp opportunities of new retail era

China must grasp opportunities of new retail era

Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

A new retail era is beginning, largely thanks to the upgrading of technology and consumption. Modern technology enables us to truly understand the needs of consumers and convert this information into the data needed by the production side so that more accurate predictions can be made. Based on this massive amount of data, the entire value chain can be more efficient in meeting the needs of consumers, and the supply side can be optimized.

To some extent, acting as organizers, new retail platforms can make the entire chain work more and more efficiently as they help manufacturers […]