Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

How to stay relevant in an automated world

How to stay relevant in an automated world

Robots have been replacing humans for half a century. When people first started employing robots over their human cohorts, it was in the manufacturing industry. Decades later, robots have revolutionised the business of physical labour, proving more efficient and safer than flesh-and-blood employees. The next great leap for robot workers was basic automation-bots – which could handle relatively simple transaction-based customer-service jobs.

Booking a flight home used to involve talking to a travel agent, now it involves a few web pages and mouse clicks. Same goes for online banking, shopping and property. Now there’s a new breed of sophisticated ‘cognitive’ […]

If the robots are coming for our jobs, make sure they pay their taxes

If the robots are coming for our jobs, make sure they pay their taxes

The problem with the future is that it’s unknowable. But of course that doesn’t stop us trying to second-guess it. At the moment, many people – and not just in the tech industry – are wondering about the impact of automation on employment. And not just blue-collar employment – the kind of jobs that were eliminated in the early phase of automating car production, for instance – but also the white-collar jobs that hitherto seemed secure.

In a much-cited 2013 study , for example, economists David Autor of MIT and David Dorn of Spain’s CEMFI institute found that because computers […]

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

In a recent interview, Microsoft MSFT founder Bill Gates proposed that robots should be taxed. He anticipates that robots will replace large numbers of workers over the next 20 years. By taxing the robots, he argued, we would slow down the pace of automation and the funds raised could be used to retrain and financially support displaced workers, who could then move into new jobs in health care, education, or other areas where human labor is needed.

While Gates is right that robots–not just traditional industrial robots, but all sorts of artificial intelligence applications–are indeed likely to automate a lot […]

Future economy needs future-ready social safety net

Future economy needs future-ready social safety net

As job insecurity looms in a world of churn, we need to attend to the well-being of citizens too

As a consumer, I love start-ups. Airbnb, Uber and car-sharing apps transformed my vacation experiences, opening up cheaper – and more interesting – accommodation and transport options. You can live in someone’s lovely house, get to know them and their family, drive a neighbour’s car, order food in when you feel like it, and even make new friends instantly via social meet-ups.

In Singapore, I use Uber, Grab and food-delivery platforms. I order food in restaurants from iPads. (Smartphone QR code […]

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

In a recent interview, Microsoft (msft, 0.00%) founder Bill Gates proposed that robots should be taxed. He anticipates that robots will replace large numbers of workers over the next 20 years. By taxing the robots, he argued, we would slow down the pace of automation and the funds raised could be used to retrain and financially support displaced workers, who could then move into new jobs in health care, education, or other areas where human labor is needed.

While Gates is right that robots—not just traditional industrial robots, but all sorts of artificial intelligence applications—are indeed likely to automate a […]

Weekend Reads: Automation & Employment

Weekend Reads: Automation & Employment Robots have been making factories more efficient for years, but as they improve in ability their presence threatens to distort the economy and boost unemployment. This week Bill Gates suggested taxing the use of robots, to subsidize worker retraining and even slow the machines’ adoption. But he’s not the first to consider how we should deal with an army of automatons in the workplace. Here, we explore the MIT Technology Review archive to investigate the effects of automation on labor. After World War II, productivity—the amount of economic value created per hour of labor—increased […]

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

Bill Gates Is Wrong That Robots and Automation Are Killing Jobs

In a recent interview, Microsoft (msft) founder Bill Gates proposed that robots should be taxed. He anticipates that robots will replace large numbers of workers over the next 20 years. By taxing the robots, he argued, we would slow down the pace of automation and the funds raised could be used to retrain and financially support displaced workers, who could then move into new jobs in health care, education, or other areas where human labor is needed.

While Gates is right that robots—not just traditional industrial robots, but all sorts of artificial intelligence applications—are indeed likely to automate a lot […]

New jobs for the brave new world

New jobs for the brave new world

Representational image: A student makes a robot during World Robot Olympiad in Kolkata The transformation of the Indian Information Technology (IT) sector from a $5 billion industry contributing just over 1% of India’s GDP in the late nineties to a $150 billion behemoth currently, making up almost 8% of India’s GDP, should arguably be the biggest success story of modern Indian economic history.

The huge talent pool of low cost, skilled, English-speaking engineers encouraged every global technology giant to set up their services and back-end operations in India. Currently, the Indian IT industry directly and indirectly employs a population of […]

Robots create American jobs, not destroy them

Robots create American jobs, not destroy them

Automation can make U.S. manufacturing more competitive while increasing the number of skilled jobs available for humans. (AP Photo/John Locher) More than two-thirds of American workers fear that robots will take over their jobs. But human capital leaders are predicting a much brighter future, one where automation can revitalize manufacturing in the United States and increase demand for skilled workers.

Of the 400 HR leaders that were surveyed for Randstad Sourceright’s 2017 Talent Trends Report, a clear majority said that automation and robotics will have a positive impact on U.S. business growth and will influence hiring over the next several […]

Humans Comfortable to Co-Exist with Automation in Work Sphere

Humans Comfortable to Co-Exist with Automation in Work Sphere

With millions of jobs expected to be displaced with the widespread use of AI, bots and automated technologies, a consumer survey commissioned by LivePerson, cloud mobile and online business messaging solutions provider, has found that about 42% of Americans never worry, and about 32% worry less often about automation usurping their jobs.

"We are seeing tremendous interest from large brands as we help them build out their bots strategy and integrate bots into their digital and customer care organizations, right alongside their human agents," says Rurik Bradbury, global head of communications and research, LivePerson. "We commissioned this research as part […]