Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Estlund on Automation & Employment Law

Cynthia L. Estlund (New York University School of Law) has posted What Should We Do after Work? Automation and Employment Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Will advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning put vast swaths of the labor force out of work or into fierce competition for the jobs that remain? Or, as in the past, will new jobs arise to absorb workers displaced by automation? These hotly debated questions have profound implications for labor and employment law, and for the fortress of social entitlements that has been built on the foundation of the employment relationship. […]

Australia unprepared for automation of its workforce

Australia unprepared for automation of its workforce

by Ed Husic and Mike Priddis

Let’s be blunt: government and corporate Australia is spectacularly unprepared for automation.

You may think that’s an especially provocative statement or blazingly unfair.But try naming a government program or corporate plan to tackle the predicted massive impact of technological change on employment?It’s not like there haven’t been clear signals of what’s coming.Oxford University, the OECD and MIT have long warned of the effects of job automation. Media, industry, unions and the tech sector have said we need to act on this.Governments commission and consume studies and tacitly accept the extent of change coming. For example, […]

Study: Humans still needed in the workforce despite influx of automation

Study: Humans still needed in the workforce despite influx of automation

Automation is happening, and realizing automation’s full potential requires people and technology to work hand in hand, according to a new report produced by McKinsey Global Institute, New York.

Recent developments in robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning have put Americans on the cusp of a new automation age. Robots and computers can not only perform a range of routine physical work activities better and cheaper than humans, but they are also increasingly capable of accomplishing activities that include cognitive capabilities once considered too difficult to automate, such as making tacit judgments, sensing emotion or even driving. Automation will change […]

The future of work in the era of artificial intelligence

The future of work in the era of artificial intelligence

In this picture from March 2016, South Korean professional Go player, Lee Sedol, takes on Google’s artificial intelligence programme AlphaGo.

Artificial intelligence is fast changing the world. The premise that intelligent machines will perform tasks more efficiently and at a lower cost than human beings is by no means far-fetched. The challenges facing the workers of the future are multiplying before our very eyes.

Some of the most vulnerable jobs in the transition to automation, robotics and artificial intelligence are related to transport, mechanical work in factories and customer service. But no sector, be it health, finance or even the military, […]

India to ban autonomous cars

India to ban autonomous cars

India, the world’s second-most populous country, has announced it will make autonomous cars illegal after an edict from the government last week.

As the rest of the world is going troppo for autonomous driving technology, with car makers and tech companies spending billions of dollars to get an edge, and governments re-writing road regulations to suit, India has a planted a big stop-sign in front of self-driving cars.

“We won’t allow driverless cars in India. I am very clear on this,” Nitin Gadkari, India’s transport minister, stated at a press conference reported by the Hindustan Times .The advent of robotics and […]

What You Can Do to Prepare for the AI-Powered, Robot-Driven Work Revolution

What You Can Do to Prepare for the AI-Powered, Robot-Driven Work Revolution

In this episode of Motley Fool Answers , Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp are joined by senior Motley Fool analyst Simon Erickson to talk about the disruptive trends of artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. Recent studies conclude that huge numbers of U.S. workers will see their jobs — or parts of them — delegated to machines in the next few decades. That will mean great things for efficiency and possibly even society, but how can an individual prepare for the rise of the robots? What jobs are safe? And where should a Foolish investor put his or her money […]

Time to rethink our perspective on jobs and technology

Time to rethink our perspective on jobs and technology

Is it only the export of jobs that has led to unemployment or are we entering a brave new world of technology steadily eroding once secure foundations of employment?

Technology and jobs, whither goest thou?

Whether in the Philippines or the United States, it is time to pause and assess the very real impact of technology’s advances on those who will lose their jobs today as the so-called “jobs of tomorrow” are created.Too often, “globalized” business leaders and macroeconomists blindly welcome every advance in productivity, while investors in turn reward news of resulting job reductions with an upward tick in share […]

Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian future has come to pass

Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian future has come to pass

Author foresaw the threat to civilisation and the crisis of meaning created by automation

’We could soon reach a point at which our smartest machines become more intelligent than we are and accelerate away from us on an exponential learning curve.’ The self-driving car has become the poster gadget for the next wave of automation powered by artificial intelligence. It is a terrifying idea.

Turning basic transportation over to robots will, almost certainly, cause the greatest job extinction event in labour history, wiping out the already dwindling earning potential for taxi drivers, truckers, delivery people and many more.Tech giants like […]

Will the home appraisal industry be replaced by technology?

Will the home appraisal industry be replaced by technology?

Automation haunts many discussions about the future of work, employment, and the economy. But technological advances may soon hit homes in an unexpected way: could real estate appraisers be replaced by robots?

That’s the conclusion of a recent article in Bloomberg , which discusses how advances in big data and computing are helping automate this knowledge-based job, perhaps a harbinger of how advances in machine learning mean an ever-widening circle of professions are at risk.

The future of the profession has become a topic due to a recent decision by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two institutions that facilitate the flow […]

Future Friday: Are you a Techno-Optimist or a Techno-Pessimist?

Future Friday: Are you a Techno-Optimist or a Techno-Pessimist?

Are you fearful that your job will be taken over by technology and you will find yourself in the unemployment line for the rest of your life? Or are you confident that due to your skill sets and your personal adaptability you will be able to work along technology and be a productive member of the working society? If you are the former, you are what is known as a techno-pessimist, the latter is a techno-optimist. I got these terms from an article and video from the McKinsey Global Institute called The digital future of work: What will automation […]