Tag: employment

Will AI and robots mean the end of jobs for humans?

Will AI and robots mean the end of jobs for humans?

By Steve Wells, Alexandra Whittington and Rohit Talwar of Fast Future

Whatever the country, whatever the economic context, the critical question is: what is the future of work in an era of exponential technology development?

Artificial intelligence is arguably the big game changer. We already see narrow AI in use in internet searches, customer targeting applications, and in predictive analytics. But AI has much greater capability that will merge into every aspect of our lives in the future.Devices will learn more about us and take on more of our tasks. We are automating activity in literally every sector and that […]

John Lewis boss warns robots could take jobs from humans and even spark an employment crisis

John Lewis boss warns robots could take jobs from humans and even spark an employment crisis

Sir Charlie Mayfield (pictured), 50, thinks that human job replacement by robots is being underestimated but businesses should invest in robotics to improve productivity Robots could take jobs from human workers and potentially spark an employment crisis, the boss of John Lewis has warned.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, 50, said new technologies, such as robots, would create massive changes across industry, with British businesses potentially among the hardest hit.

Workers undertaking manual labour, such as stocking shelves in a department store or working as a cashier could be among the first to lose out to robots as the technology involved becomes more […]

Editorial: Robots are here (and they’re coming to take your job)

Editorial: Robots are here (and they're coming to take your job)

In 1967, a prominent Roanoke business leader spoke to the Elks Club about changes that were starting to take place in the economy. Davis Elliott assured his listeners they didn’t have to worry that automation would someday replace actual human workers.

“Never fear automation,” Elliott said, “because if world population doubles in the next 35 to 40 years, they can’t produce people fast enough to look after all the machines.” Technically, Elliott was right — because we’re now long past his 35-40-year time frame. Look what’s happening, though: We’re about to have robots rolling down sidewalks in Virginia.

This is not […]

Buffett: ‘Economy Is Doing Well, but All Americans Aren’t Doing Well’

Buffett: 'Economy Is Doing Well, but All Americans Aren't Doing Well'

Investment guru Warren Buffett sees wealth inequality as the most serious problem in the country: "a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on top,"

"The real problem, in my view, is — this has been — the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people," Buffett said Monday during an interview with PBS NewsHour.

With a net worth of more than $75 billion, Buffett is currently the second richest man alive, according to Forbes. "If you go to 1982, when Forbes put on their first 400 list, those people had [a total of] $93 billion. They now […]

Nearly half of office workers believe automation will have a positive impact on their organisation

Nearly half of office workers believe automation will have a positive impact on their organisation

Research findings revealed today show that nearly half of UK office workers are optimistic about the impact automation technologies will have on the workplace of the future.

However, the cost of implementation and lack of infrastructure are big barriers to adoption for UK businesses.

A survey over 1,000 UK office workers was carried out to explore their attitudes and expectations of cutting-edge technologies including automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning. It found that 40 per cent of respondents believe machine learning will have a potentially positive impact in the workplace along with robotics. Only 10 per […]

Billionaire Warren Buffett says ‘the real problem’ with the US economy is people like him

Billionaire Warren Buffett says 'the real problem' with the US economy is people like him

Warren Buffett says people like him are the problem with the U.S. economy.

With a net worth of more than $75 billion , Buffett is currently the second richest man alive , according to Forbes. As the CEO of investing house Berkshire Hathaway , he is hallowed as the Oracle of Omaha. But for all his personal success, Buffett says the issue really is the 1 percent.

"The real problem, in my view, is — this has been — the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people," says Buffett on PBS Newshour ."If you go to 1982, when Forbes […]

Will jobs disappear as technology takes over our work?

Will jobs disappear as technology takes over our work?

Worldwide the critical question is becoming; what is the future of work in an era of exponential technology development?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably the big game changer.

We already see narrow AI in use in internet searches, customer targeting applications, and in predictive analytics.But AI has much greater capability that will merge into every aspect of our lives in the future. Increasingly devices will learn more about us, provide an ever-increasing range of support and take on more of our tasks.We are automating a lot more activity in literally every sector and that is set to continue at an accelerating […]

Seattle Minimum Wage Hikes Have Drastic Impact on Low-Income Workers

Seattle Minimum Wage Hikes Have Drastic Impact on Low-Income Workers

Fast food workers strike for a higher minimum wage, known as the "Fight for 5." (Wikimedia Commons Photo) Helping the “forgotten man” was an important and successful message for President Donald Trump in his election campaign.

He tapped into the anxieties of many Americans who are struggling to find work and are watching as traditional industries disappear or are gobbled up by automation.

While some of this development has been natural, much has been artificially created by bad policies. In particular: the minimum wage.A bombshell report was released Monday about the impact of minimum wage hikes in Seattle, Washington. The study […]

Looking beyond 2020

Looking beyond 2020

Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid With rapid changes going on in almost every sector, most of us are overwhelmed and can hardly catch up, much less plan for what is yet to come. And with the country embroiled in war against drugs and poverty as well as ethnic and resources conflict, one way by which we can manage our anxieties and troubling thoughts is to imagine what is in store for us in the future. While a few decades ago, there was only Nostradamus and predictions from soothsayers, all one has to do is to Google and hooray! One can […]

The 11 industries most under threat from artificial intelligence

The 11 industries most under threat from artificial intelligence

Alex Knight / Unsplash Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to kill off 5 million human jobs by 2020 but some industries are more at risk than others.

UK chip designer ARM released a report on Tuesday highlighting which industries consumers expect to be disrupted the most by AI machines.

The report — carried out in partnership with Northstar Research Partners and based on responses from 3,938 consumers — found that people expect everything from banking to farming to be impacted by AI."The question is whether the impact will be positive or negative?" reads the ARM report. "On one hand, increased automation […]