Main Blog Page

What about the human casualties of AI & Automation?

What about the human casualties of AI & Automation?

Analysis: With Uber looking to replace one million drivers with its self-driving vehicles, will AI really lead to mass unemployment?

Artificial Intelligence – a technology which has continually broken promises. Until now, that is.

AI technology has always been the star striker of the technology field, hugely expensive and much hyped. However, AI has never scored the big goals promised by those working on the sidelines, with a Minority Report-esque world remaining in the realms of fiction.However, no one can ignore the renewed enthusiasm that AI is today courting – companies like Salesforce, Intel and Apple are rushing to acquire AI […]

3 Ways Tech Is Empowering Freelancers

3 Ways Tech Is Empowering Freelancers

By now we’ve all heard of the term ‘shared economy’. Or at least the companies that spearheaded this movement, such as Uber , Airbnb , RelayRides or TaskRabbit .

After the 2008 financial crisis, we’ve seen a decline in quality corporate jobs. And thus people are supplementing their income with ‘side jobs’. But this so-called side hustle has become commonplace . According to Freelancers Union , 53 million people in the US are 1099 employees.

I recently connected with Will Lee, an Artificial Intelligence expert who studied at Stanford. He created his company, Verlocal , with the mission to teach and […]

CMV: Automation will continue to increase productivity and minimize employment, but the U.S. will NEVER see anything like a basic income.

CMV: Automation will continue to increase productivity and minimize employment, but the U.S. will NEVER see anything like a basic income.

Hi /u/SajunBecker . I’m wrapping up my master’s degree this year and have taken a decent number of courses pertaining to labor economics and macroeconomic development. Thus, if you’d like any more detail than what I’m providing (going to try to keep things short, for everyone’s sake), please feel free to ask! 🙂

So, basically there’s a few things going on here. First, as a few others have already pointed out, we do technically have some forms of pseudo-basic income (social security, AFDC, Food Stamps, subsidized housing programs, etc. are all efforts to combat unemployment and poverty and thus efforts […]

Automation will continue to increase productivity and minimize employment, but the U.S. will NEVER see anything like a basic income.

Automation will continue to increase productivity and minimize employment, but the U.S. will NEVER see anything like a basic income.

Frankly, I think we’re going to be caught between the worst of both worlds between increasing automation and decreasing jobs.

I’d bet that by the 2040’s or 50’s, most Western countries like Canada, Denmark (and maybe the U.K.) will offer some kind of basic income that covers a basic cost of living, but it will never happen in the U.S.

Before anyone says it, no, we can’t just expect people to "go into STEM" and past a certain point, you can’t further specialize or "get more credentials." These people are just toast, and will be expected to "tough it out." Maybe […]

Automation in the workplace – friend or foe?

Fifty-six per cent of New Zealanders ‘definitely’ think their job will be impacted by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in the next 10 years, according to recruiting experts Hays.

In the online poll of 497 people, a further 24 per cent said that ‘maybe’ their job will be impacted. The final 20 per cent do not believe their job will be impacted at all.

So is AI and automation your friend or foe? The answer, says Hays, depends on your willingness to adapt your skills."Rather than destroy jobs, automation and artificial intelligence can be expected to instead change roles, allowing workers […]

The Shifts — Great and Small — in Workplace Automation

The Shifts — Great and Small — in Workplace Automation

Despite valid concerns and anxiety about machines displacing workers, human labor isn’t going away any time soon. Tasks that cannot be substituted by automation are generally complemented by it. There have been periodic warnings in the last two centuries that automation and new technology would wipe out large numbers of middle-class jobs.

In the early 19th century, for instance, a group of English textile artisans, known as Luddites, famously protested the automation of textile production by seeking to destroy some of the machines. A century later, concern rose again over “The Automation Jobless,” as they were called in the title […]

Workers of the Future, Unite

Workers of the Future, Unite

A utomation will undoubtedly transform the workforce, the economy, and society as a whole. Robotics, sophisticated “AI” software, and other technologies will cause lasting and profound changes in the future. But that’s no reason to ignore the problems we’re facing right now.

In fact, the best way to ensure that we have a more equitable economy tomorrow is by fighting for one today. “Reality Check”

Two recent commentaries addressed the “robot question.” One, by Don Lee, ran in the Los Angeles Times under the headline “ Reality check: Manufacturers returning to U.S. may mean jobs for robots, not people […]

Workers of the Future, Unite

Workers of the Future, Unite

Issei Kato / Reuters Automation will undoubtedly transform the workforce, the economy, and society as a whole. Robotics, sophisticated “AI” software, and other technologies will cause lasting and profound changes in the future. But that’s no reason to ignore the problems we’re facing right now.

In fact, the best way to ensure that we have a more equitable economy tomorrow is by fighting for one today.

“Reality check” Two recent commentaries addressed the “robot question.” One, by Don Lee, ran in the Los Angeles Times under the headline “ Reality check: Manufacturers returning to US may mean jobs for robots, […]

Trump Supporters Are Not the Losers from Globalization

Trump Supporters Are Not the Losers from Globalization

A common narrative we hear from the news media this election cycle is that Donald Trump has become popular by tapping into anti-trade sentiment among blue collar workers “ on the losing side of trade globalization .” The basic premises of this narrative are that (1) trade has harmed a large segment of the U.S. population and (2) those people are voting for Trump. But neither one of those premises is true.

The narrative has been fueled by a paper released earlier this year by economist David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson titled “The China Shock: Learning from Labor […]

The evolution of BPO industry

The evolution of BPO industry

Manila Bulletin Business reporter James Loyola, George Yang, and Dianne Gonzalez, A.I. Pros partner. About 20 to 22 million Filipinos depend in the call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries. This includes the 5:1 ratio, where one worker needs to support four to five other people in their lives. A total about 4.4 million Filipinos, in Philippines, are employed under the BPO sector, bringing in millions of US dollars into the country.

George Yang, founder and CEO of A.I. Pros, sees the Philippines’ growth is because of the BPO sector. “If you look at the growth of the Philippines […]