Tag: employment

Job loss: Fear of artificial intelligence, robotics misplaced; technology cannot replace human hand

Job loss: Fear of artificial intelligence, robotics misplaced; technology cannot replace human hand

The emergence of technologies like robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning – to name a few – are advancing business, science, and lifestyle at a rapid pace. However, they are also threatening to take over a large number of jobs from humans in the near future. Or so people believe.

It is true that there are certain kinds of jobs, or tasks within jobs, that can be completely left to machines. However, these are fairly limited. A McKinsey study suggests that less than 5 percent of all occupations would be fully automated in the near […]

Robots will add jobs to the economy: Siemens

Robots will add jobs to the economy: Siemens

London – A new report from Siemens suggests the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ will add billions to economies and that, instead of fearing robots, the drive towards automation will actually generate more jobs.

Discussing the publication of the report, Juergen Maier said that if economies embrace and fund “Industry 4.0”, then the loss thousands of industrial jobs from automation can be turned around into a net gain in employment. This will only happen, the industrialist argues, if governments act rapidly. The report is in the form of a 246-page review, which is made up of a series of recommendations and opinions […]

Explosive growth of e-commerce could mean more jobs

Oct. 30, 2017 – When the robots came to online retailer Boxed, dread came, too: The familiar fear that the machines would take over, leaving a trail of unemployed humans in their wake.

“I had a lot of people asking me, ‘What is going to happen to us?’” says Veronica Mena, a trainer for the e-commerce startup, recalling the anxiety that rippled through her co-workers after company executives announced plans to open an automated warehouse in nearby Union, New Jersey.

Yet their fears didn’t come to pass.When the new warehouse opened this spring, workers found that their jobs were less physically […]

Many of the jobs of the future will be jobs of the past. Here’s why that’s politically important.

Many of the jobs of the future will be jobs of the past. Here’s why that’s politically important.

(Sandy Huffaker for The Washington Post) One of the hottest topics in both social science and career training is: the jobs of the future. Are the robots coming for us, or, more precisely, is the pace of labor-displacing automation accelerating? Are those without high-level education just fundamentally shafted in today’s supposedly tech-driven economy? Are factory workers just pretty much toast? Can Trump really bring back coal jobs?

With the obvious caveat that economic predictions must be taken with more than a dash of salt, my answers are: probably not, not necessarily, hard to say, and almost certainly no.

This isn’t just […]

Thais wary of using robots

Thais wary of using robots

Robots were widely used at the recent Thailand Digital Big Bang 2017 held in Bangkok. PATTARAPONG CHATPATTARASILL While experts estimate that close to 50% of jobs in Thailand could be automated with current technology, the public may not be ready to welcome robots into key jobs, according to the latest survey by UK market research firm YouGov.

Only 35% of Thai men and 28% of Thai women would want a robot on the wheel of their cars, even if robots were safe and affordable. Even fewer would trust them with caring for their children (18% of men and 16% of […]

Technology will augment – not replace – public-service professionals

Technology will augment - not replace - public-service professionals

In recent years, the public’s fascination with AI and robots has kept think tanks and consultants busy. However, in Nesta’s new research for Pearson, The Future of Skills: Employment in 2030, we show that a single-minded focus on automation misses the bigger picture in important ways.

In particular, long-run trends like population aging, urbanisation and technological change in all its forms – say, biotechnology, the materials revolution and the Internet of Things, as well as automation – will have profound implications for employment in the future. A focus on automation to the exclusion of these other trends risks distorting our […]

AP-NORC poll: Most have little fear of robots taking jobs

AP-NORC poll: Most have little fear of robots taking jobs

In this Aug. 3, 2017, photo, Myrtice Harris displays Amazon Prime shipping tape as she packages products at an Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore. In this Aug. 3, 2017, photo, Myrtice Harris displays Amazon Prime shipping tape as she packages products at an Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore. While jobs have been lost in brick-and-mortar stores, many more have been gained from e-commerce and warehousing. Amazon accounts for much of the additional employment. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans believe their jobs, and the jobs of those they live with, are safe from automation — at […]

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income – is Britain ready?

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income - is Britain ready?

The concept of universal basic income – an unconditional payment for all in a society – is one that goes back centuries, but what are the main arguments in its favour? 1. Automation

As more and more jobs become automated – that is they are done by machines rather than humans – the main benefiters will be those who own the machines while human workers will face mass unemployment. Why pay staff to serve tables in restaurants when it becomes cheap enough for robots to do the same job and not get tired? Why pay cab drivers when […]

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income – is Britain ready?

7 reasons in favour of universal basic income - is Britain ready?

The concept of universal basic income – an unconditional payment for all in a society – is one that goes back centuries, but what are the main arguments in its favour? 1. Automation

As more and more jobs become automated – that is they are done by machines rather than humans – the main benefiters will be those who own the machines while human workers will face mass unemployment. Why pay staff to serve tables in restaurants when it becomes cheap enough for robots to do the same job and not get tired? Why pay cab drivers when […]

Just how quickly will AI take your job?

Mother Jones writer Kevin Drum argues in a longish piece that AI improvement has gone exponential , and mass technological unemployment is nigh — if it isn’t starting already. So policymakers better start seriously considering a rich variety of responses: universal basic income, new taxes on smart robots, high taxes on rich humans, and AI-robot nationalization. It all certainly makes for interesting speculation. And stories about stunning advances, such as AlphaGo Zero, give such speculation a degree of weight.

But that’s as far as it goes, or at least should go. I wish Drum had given more time to experts […]