Automation nation: The robots are coming

Automation nation: The robots are coming

Andrew Wade, senior reporter

In a week where the Tories made ludicrous proposals for foreign workers that echoed the 1930s, I had the pleasure of attending a couple of conferences where people actually spoke intelligently.

Among the speakers at the FT’s Future of Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday was Rodney Brooks, founder and CTO of Rethink Robotics. The company’s Baxter and Sawyer robots are at the forefront of a new wave of industrial automation, where machine learning and artificial intelligence are embedded, and new tasks can be taught without the need for complex programming. Rodney Brooks (Credit: Rethink Robotics) […]

The Missing Political Debate Over the Digital Economy

The Missing Political Debate Over the Digital Economy

This U.S. presidential election season is leading us to rethink a lot of norms. But while it feels like a lot of our political conventional wisdom is getting turned on its head, one thing that hasn’t appeared to move forward is how we talk about the economy. We’re focused on jobs, but we’re skipping a necessary discussion of how the digital economy is shaping those jobs. The content of the campaigns still seems largely rooted in the 20th century while much of our work is rushing to meet the demands of the 21st.

The candidates are talking about cybersecurity (indeed […]

Debate: will robots fuel inequality?

Gerald Huff and Jerry Kaplan debate whether robots will leave us all worse off Automation is coming. No: Jerry Kaplan

Computer scientist, entrepreneur and author of Humans Need Not Apply

First and foremost, robots are a form of automation, and automation is the substitution of capital for labour. Historically, automation first advances the interests of the people who invest in it, before the positive impact is felt more broadly across society. In other words, with any new technologies there are winners and losers, even if in the long run we are better off on average.Just as mechanical looms […]

Automation Scare is Real! Expected to Kill 69% Of Jobs In India: World Bank

Automation Scare is Real! Expected to Kill 69% Of Jobs In India: World Bank

“I can have no consideration for machinery which is meant either to enrich the few at the expense of the many, of without cause to displace the useful labour of many” – Mahatma Gandhi

World Bank has reconfirmed our fears and apprehensions about the future of jobs and the extent to which automation and technology can influence it.

At a recent event, World Bank President Jim Kim said that as per their research, 69% of jobs in India is at threat, due to automation and technology . This means that in the next few years, 7 out of 10 jobs would […]

Yes, Machines Will Take Over Your Jobs

Yes, Machines Will Take Over Your Jobs

“What do you do?”

Humans have been asking this question since the beginning of time. For some, it’s a moment of pride and an opportunity to list their achievements, and for some, it’s a dreadful question that haunts their life. For the rest, it doesn’t matter for they look towards it just as a mean of getting a sustainable life; they do or not is a different story altogether. And soon it wouldn’t matter to you as well because you probably wouldn’t have one.

A job or whatever it is that you do for a living is placed so high […]

Will a Robot Take My Job?

Will a Robot Take My Job?

Automation is replacing low-skilled jobs but creating higher-skilled — and higher-paying — opportunities

United Parcel Service has 155 miles of conveyor belts at its Worldport hub in Louisville. If you believe the hype, a robot might one day steal your job. That’s according to some of the mythology perpetuated by futurists about the coming automation boom.

For example, in October 2015 “60 Minutes” ran a piece on a driverless Mercedes that responded to eye movements and gestures. If you carry this technology to its logical conclusion, could we one day have driverless freight trucks that in one fell swoop eliminate […]

The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, And Status In The Twenty-first Century

The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, And Status In The Twenty-first Century

Ryan Avent Ryan Avent, thank you very much for joining us today. You’ve got a new book out entitled ‘ The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-first Century ’, and it addresses one of the hottest topics around at the moment – the digital revolution, and what it means for the future of work.

So, what do you think? What does it mean?

Well, I think it means big change. I think the starting point of the book is that the digital revolution actually is probably going to be as transformative as the industrial […]

Will new technologies destroy jobs?

Will new technologies destroy jobs?

At TM Forum Live! Asia (December 7-8, Singapore), Andrew Milroy, SVP ICT Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan, will take part in a panel on the future of digital services and the Internet of Everything across APAC . Here, he looks at the impact of automation on employment.

There has been much discussion recently around the impact of automation on employment, particularly the use of robotics. Advances in machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are steadily eliminating routine and repetitive types of jobs. Some studies state that half of manufacturing jobs will be […]

Automated Inequality

Automated Inequality

Humans have been here before—at least three times before, in fact. At first, it was steam and water power; then came electricity and mass production; and then IT and computerization. Each time, Joseph Schumpeter’s “gale of creative destruction” blustered as rapid advances in technology destroyed some jobs, paved the way for new lines of work, and ultimately provided enhanced productivity and lifestyles for the majority. Researchers predict that over the next decade or so, emerging technological breakthroughs will once again fundamentally alter jobs and manufacturing processes around the world—but this time, the consequences could be drastically different.

There is little […]

The Automation Revolution

The Automation Revolution

Automation is increasingly being questioned as anti-job with chatbots, robots etc., usurping human employment across sectors. Or it might well trigger the rise of ‘knowledge’ workers. The new industrial revolution is on the anvil. The Machine Age

The way relationship between man and machine is evolving today has never happened historically. The robots from the science fiction movies are turning reality. Imminent is the fact that robots will impact millions of jobs in multiple sectors particularly the blue-collar ones. Instances like Taiwan-based contract manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group replacing around 60,000 factory workers with robots in May this year […]