Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

The robots are coming – but not for me

The robots are coming – but not for me

How to tango with a robot

We’re all familiar with the predictions: a new wave of bots, AI, and automated technologies are coming. They will sweep into widespread use and when they strike, the upheaval and disruption will displace millions of human workers from their jobs.

Study after study predicts this, some with very alarming figures. Research from Oxford University and Deloitte states that 35% of UK jobs are at risk of being lost to automation within the next two decades. And according to many experts, the future of the common man under the fourth industrial revolution looks bleak. As […]

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

As technological innovation continues to automate the modern workforce, Canadians can expect big changes to the job sector of the near future.

Computer automation, robotics and artificial intelligence will take over more tasks, replacing human labour in the process. Yet above and beyond replacement, technology is set to make many jobs fully obsolete, says Dave Ticoll of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and Canada needs to start preparing for the change, one which will impact an estimated 30 to 40 per cent of the current labour force.

Forecasting the demise of the labourer is as old as […]

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Photo: Kurtis Garbutt via Flickr A common bipartisan refrain in Washington these days is that the US corporate tax system is broken. However, Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on how to fix it.

Scott A. Shay , the chairman and co-founder of Signature Bank – a Wall Street Bank that serves the needs of privately owned business clients – has a unique and compelling idea for getting the US out of this tax morass.

Shay notes that none of the proposals to overhaul corporate taxes addresses the two major problems facing Americans and their economy — offshoring and […]

The Social Machine

The Social Machine

Ford cars roll off the assembly line in Flat Rock, Mich., in 2015. (Reuters photo: Rebecca Cook) Jobs are a means, not an end.

Funny thing about American manufacturing: The good news about what’s happening at American factories often sounds like bad news to politicians.

American factories are one of the wonders of the world, and, in spite of what President Donald Trump, Senator Bernie Sanders, and other lightly informed populists claim, they are humming. U.S. manufacturing output is about 68 percent higher today in real terms (meaning inflation-adjusted terms) than it was before NAFTA was enacted; manufacturing output […]

Experts debate technology’s impact on job losses

Experts debate technology's impact on job losses

The question seems obvious based on what we read, see and hear almost daily in modern pop culture.

However, according to James Bessen, a law professor at Boston University, that assumption may not be correct.

“I look at detailed occupations since 1980 to explore whether computers are related to job losses or other sources of wage inequality,” Bessen writes in the abstract of his paper. “Occupations that use computers grow faster, not slower. This is true even for highly routine and mid-wage occupations. Estimates reject computer automation as a source of significant overall job losses.”People are confusing automating a task with […]

Robots not about to replace lawyers

Impressive advances in artificial intelligence technology tailored for legal work have led some lawyers to worry that their profession may be Silicon Valley’s next victim.

But recent research and even the people working on the software meant to automate legal work say the adoption of AI in law firms will be a slow, task-by-task process. In other words, like it or not, a robot is not about to replace your lawyer. At least, not anytime soon.

“There is this popular view that if you can automate one piece of the work, the rest of the job is toast,” said Frank Levy, […]

Philip Cross: How I learned to stop worrying and love the job-replacing robots

Philip Cross: How I learned to stop worrying and love the job-replacing robots

SoftBank Group Corp.’s humanoid robot Pepper Dominic Barton, head of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s economic advisers, recently repeated the doomsday scenario that automation will wipe out 40 per cent of the jobs that exist today, raising the spectre of mass unemployment. People are attracted to such gloomy forecasts because of our insecure relationship with machines, going back to the Luddites of the 19 th century. Polls show a majority of Canadians feel automation will destroy jobs.

However, technology experts are evenly divided about whether automation will eliminate more jobs than it creates. Optimists argue that it’s the nature of work […]

The Dark Side Of Automated Systems Is Bright

The Dark Side Of Automated Systems Is Bright

Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates have each waved a red flag regarding the risks that could arrive with future artificial intelligence systems. To not be concerned is reckless and ignorant of the data that suggests the potential for harm. This isn’t a fear that machines with super smart operating systems will become the new Manifest Destiny with humans subjugated to supporting actor roles, but it does have its sinister bearing.

The fear factor grows from the continual eroding of jobs lost to automation and the economic disaster that result. Cries of “we have nothing to fear but fear […]

Sorry, a Robot Is Not About to Replace Your Lawyer

Sorry, a Robot Is Not About to Replace Your Lawyer

Impressive advances in artificial intelligence technology tailored for legal work have led some lawyers to worry that their profession may be Silicon Valley’s next victim.

But recent research and even the people working on the software meant to automate legal work say the adoption of A.I. in law firms will be a slow, task-by-task process. In other words, like it or not, a robot is not about to replace your lawyer. At least, not anytime soon.

“There is this popular view that if you can automate one piece of the work, the rest of the job is toast,” said Frank Levy, […]

The coming automation disruption

The coming automation disruption

WASHINGTON, United States of America – A wrecking ball is coming for the labour market, analysts warn. One such example: an Oxford study that concludes 47 per cent of jobs risk being automated.

As computer-processing power doubles each year and machines learn from their mistakes, the upcoming federal budget will examine the potential of artificial intelligence to disrupt — industries, politics, and entire societies.

It’s been mostly blue-collar workers hit so far, but Oxford researchers concluded white-collar jobs are next. They found the most at-risk jobs involve repetitive tasks, like telemarketing, tax-preparing, and insurance underwriting. The safest jobs involved unpredictability and […]