Tag: robot

Outsourced to robots

Outsourced to robots

The SoftBank humanoid robot known as Pepper, dressed as a waiter, gestures during a conference in Tokyo. (Reuters photo) Digital technology is making it far easier to get things done in everyday life, from banking to ordering food, buying clothes, books and music. A few taps on a smartphone and your transaction is complete.

Communication in general has been revolutionised by access to cheap and reliable broadband service. Not that long ago, if you wanted to talk to a friend or family member in another country, it would cost you a dollar a minute or more. Today you can simply […]

Audi, Daimler, Volvo re-think automation

Audi, Daimler, Volvo re-think automation

A worker at Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm, Germany, organizes parts used on the A8. Audi says that today’s robots cannot deal with the complexity facing their human colleagues, who assemble six model lines and 21 vehicle derivatives at the factory using roughly 56,000 parts from 1,200 suppliers. From the moment they were created, the pair known as "Heidi" and "Erin" were destined to be with each other their whole lives — or at least as long as their Audi A7 wasn’t involved in a crash. In Neckarsulm, Audi’s most flexible plant, driver-side airbags are named after girls, while the […]

Making disruption work for humans

Making disruption work for humans

Split, shatter, break apart. That is the original Latin meaning of the word disruption. Even today, the word provokes fear.

When my colleagues and I conceptualised this series, Fast Forward: Disruption and the Singapore Economy, of which you are now reading the final instalment, we considered technology-driven job loss to be a big threat. Just before this series was launched, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan spoke of a time, perhaps just 15 years away, when private cars would go the way of horse carriages as driverless vehicles become the norm; and with that change, the prospect that thousands of transport […]

The Transformation of the Workplace Through Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation: Employment and Labor Law Issues, Solutions, and the Legislative and Regulatory Response

The Transformation of the Workplace Through Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation: Employment and Labor Law Issues, Solutions, and the Legislative and Regulatory Response

The twin forces of technology and globalization are reinventing and redefining the workplace and the way work is performed. The workplace automation of the last century is rapidly being augmented and replaced by intelligent self-learning systems driven by cloud computing, breakthroughs in sensor technology, and creation of new algorithms that harness the power of “Big Data.” Technologies are emerging that enhance human capabilities and allow workers to provide a wider range of services remotely and with greater efficiency. This new workplace is constantly changing, increasingly uninhibited by geographical boundaries and inspired by the arrival of robots and new technologies […]

Millions of ASEAN jobs vulnerable to automation, says International Labour Organization

HR and accounting among the sectors at risk as business process outsourcing gets overtaken by technology

Disruptive technology will put millions of jobs at risk of automation over the next 20 years, a new report from the International Labour Organization predicts.

ASEAN in transformation: How technology is changing jobs and enterprises , suggests that business process outsourcing (BPO), which currently provides employment around one million people in the Philippines alone, is one of five industries set to see big changes because of automation. Electronics, automotive and auto parts, textiles and retail face similar disruption.BPO involves contracting out specific business […]

1.8 million American truck drivers could lose their jobs to robots. What then?

1.8 million American truck drivers could lose their jobs to robots. What then?

(Otto) So far, discussion of self-driving cars has mostly confined itself to tech geeks and urbanists. But if they live up to their promise, autonomous vehicles could have seismic effects on America’s economy and culture. It’s probably time for a wider circle of participants, including economists, politicians, and social scientists, to start grappling seriously with what’s coming.

Let’s take just one example: long-haul trucking. Millions of Americans drive trucks for a living

Freight trucks (semis, 18-wheelers, tractor trailers, what have you) are so ubiquitous on US highways that we scarcely give them any thought. But they are a big piece […]

Whatever Happened to Jobs? Automation, immigration, and joblessness

Keywords: jobs, immigration, automation, unemployment

President Obama, the Senate, and House Democrats wish to “fix” our “broken immigration system” by doubling legal immigration. Not content with that, and casting aside the rule of law, they wish to reward 11 to 20 million illegal aliens with legal status and, moreover, provide these miscreants with a “pathway to citizenship”—our most precious possession. A good idea?

Between 1916 and 1965—fifty years—immigration averaged just 218,000 per year. Since then the annual take has risen gradually to over a million per year, a growth unabated during the Great Recession and indolent recovery. Some blame our sluggish […]

When machines replace jobs, the net result is normally more new jobs

When machines replace jobs, the net result is normally more new jobs

Two of the current leading researchers in labor economics studying the impact of machines and automation on jobs have released a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, The Race Between Machine and Man: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares and Employment .

The authors, Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo are far from the robot-supporting equivalent of Statler and Waldorf , the Muppets who heckle from the balcony, unless you consider their heckling is about how so many have overstated the argument of robots taking all the jobs without factual support: Similar claims have been made, but […]

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

The increasing adoption of automation among enterprises is posing a serious threat to the jobs. According to Nasscom, the IT industry is expected to recruit 20 percent less this year and his fall is primarily due to automation. Industry experts have voiced concerns over the probable job loss due to automated technologies demanding holistic approach in recruitment policies of enterprises.

TV Mohandas Pai, the former Infosys HR head, has predicted that automation will displace 10 percent of incremental jobs. “I think in the IT sector, may be 10 percent minimum of incremental jobs that are created will disappear. That means […]

Are you ready for the jobs of the future?

Are you ready for the jobs of the future?

The flow of reports about the impact of automation, mostly dire , continues. The latest is from StartupAUS , Australia’s national startup advocacy group.

This report follows the now familiar line captured in the phrase “exponential technologies”: exponential improvements in computer power and advances in technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, cloud computing and the internet of things will have a profound impact on future employment, with almost 5 million current jobs (that is 40% of the workforce) in Australia becoming obsolete by 2030.

This follows in the footsteps of a detailed CEDA report in 2015, which conducted the […]