Tag: Services

Will automation destroy more jobs than it creates?

Economists and entrepreneurs say the advent of robots and automation will destroy more jobs than it will create—leading to a world where computers do most of the work and humans do… something else. Some critics say experts are exaggerating when they say the future will be jobless. Automation will replace some tasks, but it will also create new opportunities. The cost of goods will go down. People will still need to program the robots too. What do you think will happen? 🤖

Unlike technological revolutions in the past, automation threatens to replace humans entirely. Already, fast food chains are […]

The robots are coming – but not for me

The robots are coming – but not for me

How to tango with a robot

We’re all familiar with the predictions: a new wave of bots, AI, and automated technologies are coming. They will sweep into widespread use and when they strike, the upheaval and disruption will displace millions of human workers from their jobs.

Study after study predicts this, some with very alarming figures. Research from Oxford University and Deloitte states that 35% of UK jobs are at risk of being lost to automation within the next two decades. And according to many experts, the future of the common man under the fourth industrial revolution looks bleak. As […]

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

As technological innovation continues to automate the modern workforce, Canadians can expect big changes to the job sector of the near future.

Computer automation, robotics and artificial intelligence will take over more tasks, replacing human labour in the process. Yet above and beyond replacement, technology is set to make many jobs fully obsolete, says Dave Ticoll of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and Canada needs to start preparing for the change, one which will impact an estimated 30 to 40 per cent of the current labour force.

Forecasting the demise of the labourer is as old as […]

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Photo: Kurtis Garbutt via Flickr A common bipartisan refrain in Washington these days is that the US corporate tax system is broken. However, Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on how to fix it.

Scott A. Shay , the chairman and co-founder of Signature Bank – a Wall Street Bank that serves the needs of privately owned business clients – has a unique and compelling idea for getting the US out of this tax morass.

Shay notes that none of the proposals to overhaul corporate taxes addresses the two major problems facing Americans and their economy — offshoring and […]

Robots not about to replace lawyers

Impressive advances in artificial intelligence technology tailored for legal work have led some lawyers to worry that their profession may be Silicon Valley’s next victim.

But recent research and even the people working on the software meant to automate legal work say the adoption of AI in law firms will be a slow, task-by-task process. In other words, like it or not, a robot is not about to replace your lawyer. At least, not anytime soon.

“There is this popular view that if you can automate one piece of the work, the rest of the job is toast,” said Frank Levy, […]

Philip Cross: How I learned to stop worrying and love the job-replacing robots

Philip Cross: How I learned to stop worrying and love the job-replacing robots

SoftBank Group Corp.’s humanoid robot Pepper Dominic Barton, head of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s economic advisers, recently repeated the doomsday scenario that automation will wipe out 40 per cent of the jobs that exist today, raising the spectre of mass unemployment. People are attracted to such gloomy forecasts because of our insecure relationship with machines, going back to the Luddites of the 19 th century. Polls show a majority of Canadians feel automation will destroy jobs.

However, technology experts are evenly divided about whether automation will eliminate more jobs than it creates. Optimists argue that it’s the nature of work […]

Sorry, a Robot Is Not About to Replace Your Lawyer

Sorry, a Robot Is Not About to Replace Your Lawyer

Impressive advances in artificial intelligence technology tailored for legal work have led some lawyers to worry that their profession may be Silicon Valley’s next victim.

But recent research and even the people working on the software meant to automate legal work say the adoption of A.I. in law firms will be a slow, task-by-task process. In other words, like it or not, a robot is not about to replace your lawyer. At least, not anytime soon.

“There is this popular view that if you can automate one piece of the work, the rest of the job is toast,” said Frank Levy, […]

An automated world is coming and managing the unemployment fallout won’t be easy

An automated world is coming and managing the unemployment fallout won't be easy

One of the more striking things about economic debate in this country is that there is a broad call for “more reform” and yet an equally narrow view of what such reform should constitute.

Economic reform is often synonymous with reducing labour costs and increasing after-tax profit, because much of the debate is generated by those whose view of the world and position in life is benefitted by such outcomes. But many of these styles of reform are most suited to an economy that might be passing us by – one where output is greatly disconnected from employment.

While watching the […]

There is a huge hole in Trump’s promise to bring back US manufacturing jobs

There is a huge hole in Trump's promise to bring back US manufacturing jobs

YouTube/iPhone-Fan When Donald Trump was running for president, he said companies should "buy American and hire American."

But in manufacturing these days, buying American often means creating jobs for robots, not humans.

The story of SoftWear, a sewing-automation company in Atlanta, should throw some cold water on Trump’s dreams of returning thousands of Americans to manufacturing jobs.SoftWear started with a group of Georgia Tech professors playing around with robots and became a company because of an earlier "Buy American" push.Since 2002, a rule known as the Berry Amendment has prohibited the Defense Department from procuring "food, clothing, fabrics, fibers, yarns, other […]

Can President Trump rescue the Rust Belt?

Can President Trump rescue the Rust Belt?

President Trump promised to reverse the decades-long decline of manufacturing jobs. Can it be done? Here’s everything you need to know:

Why is the Rust Belt hurting?
Once the booming heart of America’s manufacturing industry, the Rust Belt is now dotted with derelict factory buildings, empty warehouses, and struggling downtowns filled with pawnshops and boarded-up stores. The region, which stretches from western New York to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, has been in serious decline since 1979 — the year that U.S. manufacturing employment peaked. Over the past four decades, manufacturing jobs have plunged by […]