Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Are Robots Coming for Your Job?

“Humans,” a drama about people collaborating with robots referred to as “synths,” launched its second season on AMC Feb. 13.

Curiosity, uncertainty and apprehension of the coming age of robots underlie the science fiction series . Similar sentiments were seen in a campaign against the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s former pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, who withdrew his controversial nomination Feb. 15.

The campaign featured robot characters whose catchphrase is: “We’re coming for your job.” The tagline was in response to Puzder’s previous statements expressing a preference for robots and automation over human workers. The former nominee and CEO […]

Can Trump bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs?

Candidate and now President Donald Trump has talked a lot about bringing well-paying manufacturing jobs back to the United States. As Trump sees it, the manufacturing sector in the U.S., once the standard-bearer that others sought to emulate, has now been brought to its knees with massive job losses. What and who are to blame for this saturnine state of affairs? The “what” is explained by international trade and the one-sided trade deals that feckless U.S. leaders have negotiated in the past. The “who” is still unclear, but it looks like it is nations like China and Mexico.

To remedy […]

The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates

The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates

Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment.

It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology.

In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which […]

Interview: The Automation Boom in Mexico

Interview: The Automation Boom in Mexico

Jeff Burnstein, President of A3, says Mexico may be the next global player in the automation arena, but the international skills gap could be problematic.

An assembly worker builds automation equipment at Festo’s new facility, which is strategically located to ship parts anywhere in North America, specifically to Mexico. Last year proved record-setting for robotics in terms of orders and shipments in North America, according to the Robotic Industries Association (RIA). A total of 34,606 robots valued at approximately $1.9 billion were ordered in North America—a 10% jump from 2015. Orders for robots spiked 61% in assembly applications […]

Let’s Make America’s Factories Great Again

Let's Make America's Factories Great Again

There has been considerable discussion about bringing back manufacturing to the U.S.

This was a major focus of Donald Trump’s campaign for President. Not surprisingly, there is similar discussion in other advanced countries. Teresa May, Prime Minister of Great Britain, has called for an industrial strategy to restore Britain’s manufacturing prowess. In France, Marie le Pen’s platform includes a “Made in France” policy, which sounds similar to President Trump’s “America First” plan.

It will be extremely difficult to bring back manufacturing to those places where it was previously. There are several reasons.First, manufacturing has changed. New factories now rely more on […]

Industrial Revolution comparisons aren’t comforting as job cuts loom large

Industrial Revolution comparisons aren’t comforting as job cuts loom large

People at work in a factory, making vices in 1771. Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive “Why should it be different this time?” That’s the most common response I hear when I raise concerns about automation and the future of jobs, and it’s a pretty simple rejoinder. The Western world managed the shift out of agricultural jobs into industry, and continued to see economic growth. So will not the jobs being displaced now by automation and artificial intelligence lead to new jobs elsewhere in a broadly similar and beneficial manner? Will not the former truck drivers, displaced by self-driving vehicles, find […]

Automated holidays: how AI is affecting the travel industry

Automated holidays: how AI is affecting the travel industry

First you could book a flight online. Then came online travel agents. And now you might check in for your hotel via mobile, a computer could set the price, while a chatbot answers your queries.

Some travel experts expect the first autonomous cargo flights to start within several years, while big data analysis is on the rise at internet-based firms like Expedia , Lastminute.com and Skyscanner.

“We have to reinvent the place of the man in the system,” says Fabrice Otaño, chief data officer at AccorHotels group.“Artificial intelligence can replace some existing jobs, and managers have to take care of what […]

A Tour Of The Job-Free Future

A Tour Of The Job-Free Future

Machines have replaced human work for as long as there have been machines, but in recent years, jobs that long seemed immune to the rise of the robots — restaurant servers, truck drivers, retail staff — have started looking shaky.

Already, at the experimental edges of the economy, you can have dinner in a server-free dining room, watch a driverless truck haul cargo from A to B, and buy your groceries without a human being having anything to do with it. So BuzzFeed News went out and spent a day experiencing the new, job-free economy. As those technologies go mainstream […]

Invest in These Companies and You Won’t Need a Job

Invest in These Companies and You Won’t Need a Job

This week our focus is on resources . For good reason too. Our colleague, Jason Stevenson is our in-house resource specialist. And this week he released some incredible research about ‘Gigastocks’.

These are a new kind of stock, which he believes have the potential to increase more than 10,000%.

Now we know that might sound too incredible to be true. That was our initial reaction too. But we know the dedication Jason has to his research. And after seeing some of the research he’s put behind this Gigastocks project…well let’s just say we you’d be crazy if you didn’t at least […]

DYER: The grand experiment — universal basic income

DYER: The grand experiment — universal basic income

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries. There’s a new idea that might be the solution to runaway populism. Well, it’s not that new, really — it has been kicking around in left-wing circles for a least a quarter-century — but it has suddenly gone mainstream. It’s called Universal Basic Income (UBI), and pilot programs to see if it really works in practice are being launched this year in four different countries.

It’s populism that gave us Brexit in Britain and President Donald Trump in the United States. It could soon give us President […]