Tag: robot

Work Automation and What it Means for Employees

Work Automation and What it Means for Employees

The workplace today is not the same as it was 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. As we entered the 21st century, the world was a very different place. Technological advances have allowed us to use automation to do many of the jobs that once required a personal touch. Modern technology has already caused many jobs to be phased out. One cannot help but wonder if the job they are doing right now will still be around in the upcoming years.

Robots Are Replacing Humans World-Wide

In some areas of the world, companies are using robots to do […]

Global warming and robotics: the two biggest threats to the ‘Asian Century’

Global warming and robotics: the two biggest threats to the ‘Asian Century’

A beer assembly line inside a brewery in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Such automation could keep factory jobs and provide more high-end jobs. But as China moves up the value chain – and no longer has an endless supply of cheap labour – India and the ASEAN member countries are expected to fill its role. Photo: Reuters We are living in the “Asian Century”, so called because by 2050, the region is projected to be as wealthy as Europe on a per capita basis, and hold a dominant share of global economic output.

But what if it turns out to be […]

The Automation Issue and the Presidential Race

While Donald Trump softens (or curdles, depending on the perspective) on immigration, while folks question whether Hillary Clinton is a particularly articulate zombie, automation looms like a tidal wave. Neither candidate has touched on the issue very much, which is a shame because it will likely begin striking during the next administration.

Automation is the process of making stuff happen without humans doing it. Self-driving cars (and trucks) will be one example of automation, but so will robotic cooks at fast food joints. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were an early victory for the robots, way back in the 1960s. But […]

The Tech Revolution Rides On A Wave Of Lost Jobs

The Tech Revolution Rides On A Wave Of Lost Jobs

Uber lost over 1.2 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2016 – with most of this loss incurred as a result of paying its drivers. The company’s long term plan is reap a windfall by getting rid of the drivers and replacing them with self-driving vehicles.

Fast food companies, pressured by moves to increase the minimum wage to $15 dollars have been concerned about profits. Their long term plan is to get rid of the part of their businesses that complain about low wages, ask for health care benefits and are generally inefficient – the humans. "It’s cheaper to […]

Who Took My Job: 7 Potential Job Killers You Should Look Out For

Who Took My Job: 7 Potential Job Killers You Should Look Out For

As technology becomes more and more advanced, it displaces more and more people from their jobs.

People can’t afford to merely hang on to their jobs anymore. What’s required is preparation for newer jobs and constant upgrading of skills.

Jobless growth is not just a concept limited to the column inches of the newspapers anymore. It is now a reality. Growth itself is not coming easy. Countries across the globe are trying every trick in the book to boost growth, from zero interest rates to quantitative easing to helicopter money, but such antics have yielded a mouse.Not just growth but job […]

Here’s the best argument that computers could replace doctors, teachers, and even nannies

Here’s the best argument that computers could replace doctors, teachers, and even nannies

Javier Zarracina/Vox

Artificial intelligence is improving rapidly, and a lot of people are worried that it will lead to massive job losses. In the past, technology mostly displaced workers doing routine tasks or manual labor. But as software becomes more sophisticated, there’s a growing prospect that truck drivers, teachers, and perhaps even doctors could see their jobs replaced by a robot or a computer program.

Ryan Avent is an economics correspondent for the Economist who has been thinking about the economics of automation for several years. He’s a technology optimist — he thinks software and robots really will massively boost economic […]

Job automation threatens peoples’ livelihoods. Can universal basic income save the day?

Job automation threatens peoples’ livelihoods. Can universal basic income save the day?

Planet Earth ( openDemocracy ) – In early 2013, a colleague and I attended the inaugural meeting of the UK Robot Ethics association. There, we suggested that developments in robotics and computing technology meant that we needed to re-evaluate some of our economic thinking. Machines were now increasingly capable of replacing human cognitive power as well as physical power, as had primarily been the case in the past. There is an orthodox idea in economics according to which increases in productivity driven by technology will not create long-term or ‘structural’ unemployment. Conventional thinking has it that as technology-driven productivity […]

All jobs susceptible to automation, says McKinsey Global Institute study

All jobs susceptible to automation, says McKinsey Global Institute study

NewsWrap Some of the activities that have the greatest potential for automation are physical activities that occur in predictable environments

It is not just low-skill, low-wage jobs that are affected by automation; some high-skill, high-wage jobs too, are susceptible to automation, according to McKinsey Global Institute, the business and economics research arm of consultancy firm McKinsey.

Take for instance, the task of collecting and analysing data. Some of it falls into the category of low-skill, low-wage. But, says Michael Chui, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute, some of the activities that fit into the category of collecting and analysing data are done by […]

Creativity will save us from the robots, QUT professor predicts

Creativity will save us from the robots, QUT professor predicts

The creative industries will have a resurgence in the age of of programmatic and the increasing role of digital in communications, a leading academic has predicted. Professor Stuart Cunningham of the Queensland University of Technology said the value of an Arts degree was increasing as robots and automation looked set to kill a host of careers with foundations in the digital space.

Cunningham predicts that workers in the future will have to have a working knowledge of digital and understand what is happening “under the hood’, but as robots assumed roles traditionally held by humans, the opportunities would grow for […]

Man vs. Machine: Is Automation Stealing Jobs?

Man vs. Machine: Is Automation Stealing Jobs?

Although it has accelerated of late, the fear of automation stealing jobs is centuries old. Recall the legendary 19th century folktale of John Henry, the strongest steel-driving man who ever wielded a hammer. One day the railroad turned to automation, using a steam-powered drill that outworked any man. Although John Henry tried to outwork the machine, he famously died trying.

In a more contemporary "man v. machine" story, chess master Garry Kasparaov defeated IBM’s Deep Blue in a 1996 chess match, only to lose against the "thinking machine" the following year. Notice that in both stories, the machines ultimately came […]