Impact of job-stealing robots a growing concern at Davos

Impact of job-stealing robots a growing concern at Davos

An attendee communicate with SARA, a socially aware robot assisstant, during a presentation at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich By Martinne Geller and Ben Hirschler

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Open markets and global trade have been blamed for job losses over the last decade, but global CEOs say the real culprits are increasingly machines.

And while business leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos relish the productivity gains technology can bring, they warned this week that the collateral damage to jobs needs to be addressed […]

For white-collar staff, AI threatens new workplace revolution

For white-collar staff, AI threatens new workplace revolution

If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. Or as a plumber.

After industrial robots and international trade put paid to many manufacturing jobs in the West, millions of white-collar workers could now be under threat from new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI).

The issue of how best to face up to this "Fourth Industrial Revolution" has been exercising politicians and business leaders this week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos.The progress of artificial intelligence has been "staggering" in […]

For white-collar staff, Artificial Intelligence threatens new workplace revolution

For white-collar staff, Artificial Intelligence threatens new workplace revolution

a man works amid orange robot arms.(Photo |AP) DAVOS: If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. Or as a plumber.

After industrial robots and international trade put paid to many manufacturing jobs in the West, millions of white-collar workers could now be under threat from new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI).

The issue of how best to face up to this "Fourth Industrial Revolution" has been exercising politicians and business leaders this week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town of […]

Rice hosts automation summit

Rice hosts automation summit

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Email While most Rice students were studying for finals in early December, a collection of entrepreneurs, academics and researchers gathered at the BioSciences Research Collaborative for three days to discuss the future impact of automation and artificial intelligence on human work in the De Lange Conference X, entitled “Humans, Machines and the Future of Work.”“To me, it’s the university at its best,” Rice President David Leebron said. “What [conference chair Moshe Vardi] and the conference committee did here is bring people from all different disciplines to think about a problem that can only be […]

Robots will destroy our jobs – and we’re not ready for it

The McDonald’s on the corner of Third Avenue and 58th Street in New York City doesn’t look all that different from any of the fast-food chain’s other locations across the country. Inside, however, hungry patrons are welcomed not by a cashier waiting to take their order, but by a “Create Your Taste” kiosk – an automated touch-screen system that allows customers to create their own burgers without interacting with another human being.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many jobs have been lost by the deployment of the automated kiosks – McDonald’s has been predictably reluctant to release numbers – […]

America Is Still Making Things

America Is Still Making Things

A manufacturing worker at an Eli Lilly facility in Indiana COLUMBIA CITY, Ind.—Big companies such as Rexnord and Carrier are closing down plants in this Rust Belt state and moving their factories to Mexico. But in some corners, including this rural patch of the state’s northeast, manufacturing is growing.

In a nondescript building set among the icy cornfields of Columbia City, Brian Emerick, the CEO and owner of Micropulse, employs 306 people who make millions of dollars worth of specialized medical equipment such as orthopedic implants and the surgical tools used to install them. That’s up from the 190 he […]

America Is Still Making Things

America Is Still Making Things

A manufacturing worker at an Eli Lilly facility in Indiana COLUMBIA CITY, Ind.—Big companies such as Rexnord and Carrier are closing down plants in this Rust Belt state and moving their factories to Mexico. But in some corners, including this rural patch of the state’s northeast, manufacturing is growing.

In a nondescript building set among the icy cornfields of Columbia City, Brian Emerick, the CEO and owner of Micropulse, employs 306 people who make millions of dollars worth of specialized medical equipment such as orthopedic implants and the surgical tools used to install them. That’s up from the 190 he […]

When it Comes to ‘Saving Globalization’ World Leaders are Still Missing the Point

When it Comes to ‘Saving Globalization’ World Leaders are Still Missing the Point

“Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it,” or so Karl Marx once wrote. As trade liberalization and globalization more broadly are called into question, G20 leaders could do with both interpreting the situation and changing it.

It is not an easy task for the G20, which is a diverse group of developed and emerging economies, accounting for around 80% of GDP. In spite of their great success in launching a trade and investment working group and agreeing on guiding principles of investment policy-making, G20 leaders failed to address the emergence of […]

Trump’s Job Promise – Can He Build A Wall Around Automation?

Trump’s Job Promise - Can He Build A Wall Around Automation?

Moving through the 21st Century, automation, not aliens, has been the driving force in unemployment. Trump waived his magic “wall” wand over his rust-belt Cinderellas that eked out an electoral win with fears of minorities and foreigners, but can he build a wall around job automation? Will jobs be the measure of human worth in this century and beyond when machines will do more, faster, and better?

Trump squeaked into office by wooing white blue collar voters in the former industrial states and in coal country with the idea that he would kick start their manual labor-intensive economies. Factory jobs.

Even […]

Trump’s Job Promise – Can He Build A Wall Around Automation?

Moving through the 21st Century, automation, not aliens, has been the driving force in unemployment. Trump waived his magic “wall” wand over his rust-belt Cinderellas that eked out an electoral win with fears of minorities and foreigners, but can he build a wall around job automation? Will jobs be the measure of human worth in this century and beyond when machines will do more, faster, and better?

Trump squeaked into office by wooing white blue collar voters in the former industrial states and in coal country with the idea that he would kick start their manual labor-intensive economies. Factory jobs.

Even […]