Tag: inequality

Robot gets seat at boardroom table

Robot gets seat at boardroom table

Marc Benioff, left, CEO of Salesforce, meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. – Paul Chiasson , The Canadian Press DAVOS, Switzerland — Marc Benioff, chief executive of the software company Salesforce, consults a regular guest at his senior-level meetings: a robot that doesn’t hesitate to correct error-prone humans, he told an audience in Davos this week.

The AI robot, called Einstein, has had a seat at the table for about a year.

"I ask Einstein, ‘I heard what everybody said, but what do you actually think?’" Benioff said at the World Economic […]

Amazon’s New Supermarket Could Be Grim News for Human Workers

Amazon’s New Supermarket Could Be Grim News for Human Workers

When Amazon announced, in June, that it was buying Whole Foods, for $13.7 billion, speculation arose about what, exactly, the world’s biggest online retailer planned to do with the high-end supermarket chain. Amazon had taken steps to enter the business of selling fresh food, but it was far from the company’s areas of expertise. Some noted that Amazon was, and continues to be, one of the most aggressive investors in robotics and artificial-intelligence technology. Five years ago, Amazon purchased Kiva, a company that produces mobile robots that would make it easier to automate Amazon’s distribution centers, potentially saving the […]

How Will AI Change Work? Here Are 5 Schools of Thought

How Will AI Change Work? Here Are 5 Schools of Thought

Yaroslav Kushta/Getty Images The future of the workforce is one of the biggest issues facing CEOs today. It’s abundantly clear to all that artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and advanced robotics make it possible for machines to take on tasks that once required a person to do them. How should companies prepare, strategically, to thrive in this world?

Views on what to expect vary dramatically. By some accounts, almost half of all jobs in the U.S. economy could be made obsolete. Others have described how intelligent machines will actually create jobs — including entirely new categories of jobs. Some people […]

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

As world leaders gather for Davos , one of the common and continuing themes is the emerging threat of automation and the consequent effect on economic inequality and global stability. Responding to the so-called fourth industrial revolution has become one of the biggest topics of discussion in the world of technology and politics, and it’s not surprising that anxiety runs high.

A lot of the current conversation has been shaped by research with scary conclusions such as “47% of total US employment is at risk from automation.” In a survey last year of 1,600 Quartz readers, 90% of responders thought […]

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

As world leaders gather for Davos , one of the common and continuing themes is the emerging threat of automation and the consequent effect on economic inequality and global stability. Responding to the so-called fourth industrial revolution has become one of the biggest topics of discussion in the world of technology and politics, and it’s not surprising that anxiety runs high.

A lot of the current conversation has been shaped by research with scary conclusions such as “47% of total US employment is at risk from automation.” In a survey last year of 1,600 Quartz readers, 90% of responders thought […]

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

Your primer on how to talk about the “fourth industrial revolution”

As world leaders gather for Davos , one of the common and continuing themes is the emerging threat of automation and the consequent effect on economic inequality and global stability. Responding to the so-called fourth industrial revolution has become one of the biggest topics of discussion in the world of technology and politics, and it’s not surprising that anxiety runs high.

A lot of the current conversation has been shaped by research with scary conclusions such as “47% of total US employment is at risk from automation.” In a survey last year of 1,600 Quartz readers, 90% of responders thought […]

How Automation Affects Employment

How Automation Affects Employment

Here is an excellent essay written by a Year 12 student on the title "Examine the possible impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on both the pattern of employment and rate of unemployment in countries such as the UK." One hundred and fifty years ago, and it would have been unfathomable to assume technology could have assimilated into every corner of our lives as it has now done. It has transformed productivity, help raise the material living standards of even the impoverished, and created employment in sectors that were unheard of not so long ago. In the late 18th […]

In automation and AI, many see a jobless future and higher inequality. But the technologically driven shift should be welcomed, say Christopher Pissarides & Jacques Bughin

In automation and AI, many see a jobless future and higher inequality. But the technologically driven shift should be welcomed, say Christopher Pissarides & Jacques Bughin

Ever since early-nineteenth-century textile workers destroyed the mechanical looms that threatened their livelihoods, debates over automation have conjured gloom-and-doom scenarios about the future of work.

With another era of automation upon us, how nervous about the future of our own livelihoods should we be?

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that, depending on a country’s level of development, advances in automation will require 3-14% of workers worldwide to change occupations or upgrade their skills by the year 2030. Already, about 10% of all jobs in Europe have disappeared since 1990 during the first wave of routine-based technological change. […]

Automation and the Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market

Automation and the Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market

The Issue:

Automation has displaced workers in many occupations, from manufacturing to routine office jobs. New research finds that employment growth in high-paying jobs has slowed since the year 2000, and that this has been particularly true for jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). One possible explanation is that rapid advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are making it possible for a wider range of technically demanding jobs to get automated. High-paying jobs increasingly require skills that are more difficult to automate, such as those that involve significant interpersonal interaction. The Facts:

While there is much […]

Embracing the New Age of Automation

Embracing the New Age of Automation

With rapid advances in automation and artificial intelligence in recent years, many are worried about a jobless future and sky-high levels of inequality. But the large-scale technologically driven shift currently underway should be welcomed, and its adverse effects should be managed with proactive policies to reinvest in workers.

LONDON – Ever since early-nineteenth-century textile workers destroyed the mechanical looms that threatened their livelihoods, debates over automation have conjured gloom-and-doom scenarios about the future of work. With another era of automation upon us, how nervous about the future of our own livelihoods should we be? The world’s leading thinkers and policymakers […]