Tag: robot

American public fears AI’s impact on employment, says Syzygy

American public fears AI’s impact on employment, says Syzygy

Over two-thirds (70 percent) of the American public fear artificial intelligence’s impact on employment, reveals a new study from digital company Syzygy. The impact of AI on our day-to-day lives has been a hot topic in IoT news of late. The wider public are aware that AI, robotics and automation are combining to shake up the world in which we live.

These are justifiable concerns that tabloid newspapers love to feed, with proclamations that the rise of robotics signals the end of humanity – especially when the likes of Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk weigh in on the subject.

It’s important, […]

Should developing countries fear the impact of automation on jobs?

Should developing countries fear the impact of automation on jobs?

Fears of technology-induced unemployment have penetrated media headlines and policy discourse in both advanced and developing countries. A water jet harvester works rows of romaine lettuce near Soledad, California, United States, 3 May, 2017 (Photo: Reuters/Michael Fiala). In 2017, economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne concluded that 47 per cent of jobs in the United States were at high risk of automation. A range of replications and extensions have made similar claims. The World Development Report 2016 asserts that 68.9 per cent of jobs in India are at high risk — and that number remains at 42.6 per cent […]

Will real life Blade Runners be tax collectors?

Will real life Blade Runners be tax collectors?

In 1979, an innovative two-minute TV commercial gave Britain a glimpse of the future. Choreographed to music from Rossini’s Barber of Seville, hi-tech machines built the Fiat Strada. The tagline was Handbuilt by Robots . Humans were nowhere to be seen in the Turin factory where the ad was shot, but the film crew knew where the people were: outside, on picket lines protesting the loss of their jobs.

Fast forward nearly 40 years and “ the robots are coming, they want to replace us, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them” isn’t the plot of the second […]

AI is synonymous with job automation in the minds of American workers

AI is synonymous with job automation in the minds of American workers

Artificial intelligence may well pose an existential threat to humanity. But that’s not what worries the public. What worries them is jobs.

According to a new study conducted by my team at SYZYGY, 70 percent of the American public fear that AI will have a negative impact on employment in the US. On average, Americans in work today believe that 30 percent of their work could be replaced by AI-enabled automation technology within five years. And overall, when asked about what they fear most from AI, job automation is the number one ranked fear. Fears of job automation are not […]

Retailers Slash Holiday Season Hiring As E-Commerce Takes Toll

Retailers Slash Holiday Season Hiring As E-Commerce Takes Toll

As brick-and-mortar retailers struggle to remain relevant in the new world of e-commerce, they’re hiring fewer seasonal workers.

That’s according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which shows October employment gains fell 8% from last year – a result of fewer hiring announcements from companies like Walmart. The report shows that seasonal retail hiring has fallen each October since 2015.

“The shrinking job gains in retail during the holiday season are indicative of the changing consumer habits and overall transition the industry is experiencing,” John Challenger, the firm’s chief executive officer, said in the report. Online Shift More shoppers […]

Spotlight: Killer or savior, technology plays its two faces on employment

by Liu Tian, Mao Pengfei, Le Yanna

DA NANG, Vietnam, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) — As technologies play increasingly important role in pushing forward modern economy development, debates related to technologies have never stopped since it, although created numerous jobs in new economic fields, forced many laborers to leave their posts, especially in those traditional manufacturing industries.

The paradox has been subjected to discussion for the world’s business elites who are here for the meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week and seeking answers.Nicolas Aguzin, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Asia-Pacific, said during a discussion at the APEC CEO […]

Schmidt: Deporting international students ‘literally insane’

Schmidt: Deporting international students 'literally insane'

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt took aim at the Trump administration’s immigration policies last week, saying any policy that threatens international college students with deportation is “literally insane.”

The comment came as Schmidt, who now leads the Google parent company Alphabet, was asked at an MIT conference how the U.S. should retain top young talent in fields like computer science and artificial intelligence (AI).

“The first and most obvious thing to do is: Don’t kick them out,” Schmidt said, to a round of applause. He added, “I would much rather have them be in America … I’d rather […]

As Robots Replace Workers, What Is Happening to Employment Rates?

As Robots Replace Workers, What Is Happening to Employment Rates?

A Socibot Kiosk intercactive robot, developed by Engineered Arts. Bertrand GuayAFP/Getty

A Socibot Kiosk intercactive robot, developed by Engineered Arts. Bertrand GuayAFP/Getty

Peak coal industry employment was in 1930, when approximately 130,000 people had jobs in the coal industry. Today, as the Washington Post so memorably framed it, fewer people work in the mines than at Arby’s. Coal production, on the other hand, has continued to rise over time, from 400 million short tons in 1940 to 1.17 billion short tons by 2008.It’s not that miners have gotten superhumanly productive; it’s that machinery has replaced people.The current presidential administration frequently focuses […]

More Evidence that Humans and Machines Are Better When They Team Up

More Evidence that Humans and Machines Are Better When They Team Up

By worrying about job displacement, we might end up missing a huge opportunity for technological amplification.

Instead of just fretting about how robots and AI will eliminate jobs, we should explore new ways for humans and machines to collaborate, says Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL).

“I believe people and machines should not be competitors, they should be collaborators,” Rus said during her keynote at EmTech MIT 2017 , an annual event hosted by MIT Technology Review.How technology will impact employment in coming years has become a huge question for economists, policy-makers, and technologists. […]

Robots no threat to jobs and taxing them may harm economy

Robots no threat to jobs and taxing them may harm economy

The UK already has fewer robots than other leading economies Robots do not pose a threat to UK workers’ jobs, and proposals to tax them risk damaging the economy, a new report has found.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has warned of the danger of the rewards from automation going only to a few bosses of tech firms and argued for them instead to be “publicly managed to share the benefits”, though aides stressed he has not proposed a robot tax.

The new paper from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank warns that restraints on investment in robots […]