Tag: inequality

A New Report says That Automation has threatened 800 Million Employment Opportunities

According to a new report, 800 million jobs could be lost by the year 2030 all over the world due to automation. The study that was carried out by McKinsey Global Institute says that technological advancements in robotics and Artificial Intelligence will have a drastic effect on the working population. The report says that the ripple effect that will be caused by automation will be similar to how societies shifted from agriculture to manufacturing in the industrial revolution. An estimated 39 to 73 million employment opportunities will be automated in the United States alone. This population in the US […]

Automation threatens 800 million jobs, but technology could still save us, says report

Automation threatens 800 million jobs, but technology could still save us, says report

A new report predicts that by 2030, as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation. The study , compiled by the McKinsey Global Institute, says that advances in AI and robotics will have a drastic effect on everyday working lives, comparable to the shift away from agricultural societies during the Industrial Revolution. In the US alone, between 39 and 73 million jobs stand to be automated — making up around a third of the total workforce.

But, the report also states that as in the past, technology will not be a purely destructive force. New jobs […]

One-third of US workers could be jobless by 2030 due to automation: McKinsey

One-third of US workers could be jobless by 2030 due to automation: McKinsey

As much as one-third of the United States workforce could be out of a job by 2030 thanks to automation, according to new research from McKinsey. The consulting firm now estimates that between 400 million and 800 million individuals globally could be displaced by automation and need to find new work.

"Even if there is enough work to ensure full employment by 2030, major transitions lie ahead that could match or even exceed the scale of historical shifts out of agriculture and manufacturing," according to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute published this month. "Even as it causes declines […]

The robots are coming, the robots are coming!

The robots are coming, the robots are coming!

We’re hatching an antibiotics apocalypse because we love cheap chicken Malaysian laws don’t do enough to protect our personal data Stephen Hawking, everyone’s favourite intellectual (they made a movie about him!), has said that right now is perhaps “the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity” thanks to automation.

Yeah, lots of people have cried doom but when it’s Stephen Hawking, you tend to listen.

And what makes this potentially the most dangerous moment? Is it AI run amok? Out of control climate change? An asteroid on a collision course with Earth?Nope, it’s employment.“The automation of factories has already decimated […]

Meet your new cobot: is a machine coming for your job?

Meet your new cobot: is a machine coming for your job?

John Harris Next to the M56, on the outskirts of Manchester, the future has landed. A cluster of huge distribution centres sits at the heart of Airport City , a new development part-funded by the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (two years ago, it was visited by president Xi Jinping of China). Among the biggest buildings is one of Amazon’s self-styled “fulfilment centres”. Known within the company as MAN1, it opened in September last year, but everything inside, from the chairs to the wall-mounted screens, looks as if it has just come out of a box. Deeper within the centre, […]

Rise of the machines: Is Malaysia ready?

Rise of the machines: Is Malaysia ready?

Industrial robots have already made a huge impact on the automotive industry. REUTERS PIC “WATCH robot builder construct house in two days.” “New robotic drill performs skull surgery 50 times faster.” “The Washington Post’s robot reporter has published 850 articles in the past year.”

Seeing these news headlines, I instantly recall Elon Musk, who has not been discreet about his worries over the rise of machines. He had warned that: “Robots will be able to do everything better than us”.

Musk is not alone. In fact, many share his worries. Machines of the future can “think” and “act” like humans or, […]

We Need to Retool Higher Ed to Defeat Robots

Thousands of years ago, the agricultural revolution led our foraging ancestors to take up the scythe and plough. Hundreds of years ago, the Industrial Revolution pushed farmers out of fields and into factories. Just tens of years ago, the technology revolution ushered many people off the shop floor and into the desk chair and office cube.

Today, we are living through yet another revolution in the way that human beings work for their livelihoods—and once again, this revolution is leaving old certainties scrapped and smoldering on the ash heap of history. Once again, it is being powered by new technologies. […]

America’s Digitalization Divide

America’s Digitalization Divide

We’ve long heard about America’s digital divide , but the nation is facing a parallel and deepening digitalization divide, too. According to a new Brookings Institution study , this digitalization divide is reflected in the increasingly uneven spread of high-paying digital jobs across the economy and workforce, by gender, race, and ethnicity, and across cities and metro areas.

Digitalization has transformed just about everything we do—from the way we work to our entertainment choices, and how we communicate with one another. It’s not just knowledge workers, smart phones, and laptops we’re talking about. Our cars, televisions, and appliances are loaded […]

How Alphabet and Google Think About AI and The Economy

How Alphabet and Google Think About AI and The Economy

In the past, we’ve heard Alphabet’s Google unit describe itself as an " AI-first company ," as well as the importance of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the products that Google makes. At a workshop on AI and the Future of Work earlier this month, Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt discussed where such technologies are heading, as well as their impact on jobs, income inequality, and American competitiveness.

Schmidt said he has been following AI since the 1970s, and noted that Alphabet CEO Larry Page studied AI at Stanford, but conceded that, until recently, he had been pretty skeptical […]

AI and The Future of Work

AI and The Future of Work

Artificial Intelligence will have a profound effect on the way people work, and will almost certainly also impact the availability of jobs and distribution of income. But a number of leading technologists and economists speaking at a conference on AI and the Future of Work —presented by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and its Initiative on the Digital Economy—earlier this month suggested that the changes may not be as rapid or as unusual as is popularly suggested, which is very different from much of what I hear at typical technology conferences.

MIT President Rafael Reif, who opened […]