Tag: Technology

Governments take first, tentative steps at regulating AI

Governments take first, tentative steps at regulating AI

One of the earliest accounts of technology control appears in ancient Greek mythology in the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. This stolen gift enabled the development of human civilization.

We humans are now attempting to control a new technology, artificial intelligence, and it is fair to wonder if we will be more successful than the Greek gods were.

State legislatures in New York and New Jersey have proposed legislation that represents the first, tentative steps at regulation. While the two proposed laws are different, they both have elements of information gathering about […]

What Amazon’s decision to retrain a third of its employees means for the future of work

What Amazon’s decision to retrain a third of its employees means for the future of work

Amazon’s announcement that it will invest US$700 million to retrain 100,000 employees – a third of its U.S. workforce – in new technologies is the latest reminder that the much-heralded future of work is well underway.

Policymakers, analysts and scholars trying to discern the retailer’s motives and objectives chalked it up to a public relations move or the natural result of a tight labor market . Others deemed it standard retraining and investment .

Lost in the reaction, however, is what it means for the rest of us workers. As an expert in technology disruption , I believe the main message […]

Universities are key to 4IR employment

Universities are key to 4IR employment

(John McCann/M&G) Universities in Africa, as with their counterparts globally, are required to contribute to the advancement and development of their societies. This needs to be underpinned by teaching and learning strategies that create well educated, socially conscious citizens who are equipped with skills for their era, in this case the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

The 4IR is creating overarching conditions that have important implications for our universities: what we teach, what we research and our contribution to the economy, employment and society. This requires a deliberate leveraging and repositioning of our universities to optimise our role in reconstructing South […]

Neo-Socialism and the Rise of the Machines

Neo-Socialism and the Rise of the Machines

Diego Rivera, “Man at the Crossroads” detail (Wikimedia Commons) Today’s emergent socialism is less an attack on liberalism than a wake-up call to mainstream politicians sleeping through the tech revolution.

Socialism hasn’t been as popular as it is today since the late 19 th and early 20 th century, when the Wobblies were a force to be reckoned with and public figures such as George Orwell, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Bertrand Russell identified as socialists. Today, a self-described socialist is currently a serious contender for President of the United States and more Americans under age 30 view have […]

Searching for clarity: How much will automation impact the middle class?

Searching for clarity: How much will automation impact the middle class?

The long-run labor market consequences of advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other forms of automation technology remain uncertain. This uncertainty stems from a recognition that while many jobs will undoubtedly be affected, it is difficult to predict which jobs are at risk and in which sectors new jobs will be created. This is not an idle concern: One in six Americans think that robots and computers will take over many jobs now done by humans; only 25% believe that automation will bring new, better paying jobs. And the estimates of jobs at risk are quite variable. Authors

For […]

Automation Reshaped The Workplace In The 1960’s But Will The Deep Learning Revolution Be Different?

Automation Reshaped The Workplace In The 1960's But Will The Deep Learning Revolution Be Different?

Postage stamp from 1960 commemorating the first automated post office. (Getty Images). Millions of jobs lost to automation. Pundits decrying that machines are increasingly displacing humans in the workforce. The federal government running advertising and training programs to retrain displaced workers for increasingly technical jobs in an era of automation with slogans like “You won’t get tomorrow’s job with yesterday’s skills!” A president who offers that “the major domestic challenge … [is] to maintain full employment at a time when automation, of course, is replacing [people].” While this perfectly describes 2019, it actually describes America half a century ago […]

I Worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center; They Treat Workers Like Robots

I Worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center; They Treat Workers Like Robots

IDEAS

Guendelsberger is the author of On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

A group of workers with their fists raised in solidarity hold a scrawled sign: “We are humans not robots!” They and others at an Amazon warehouse in Minnesota protested in March and on July’s Amazon Prime Days. They were speaking against the day-to-day dehumanizing reality of their workplace.If your only interaction with Amazon is packages arriving on your doorstep, it can be hard to understand what workers are unhappy about, or why one described his fulfillment center as an […]

In tune with technology

In tune with technology

Samir Kapoor, Academician and Consultant, Delhi We are the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Developments in genetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and biotechnology are happening around us. This will lay the foundation for a revolution more comprehensive and all-encompassing than anything we have ever seen. In many industries and countries, the most in-demand occupations or specialties of today did not exist 10 or even five years ago, and the pace of change is set to accelerate. Children entering primary school today will end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist. In such […]

Robots Are More Likely To Take Women’s Jobs Than Men’s, Study Shows, But It Might Not Be All Doom & Gloom

Robots Are More Likely To Take Women's Jobs Than Men's, Study Shows, But It Might Not Be All Doom & Gloom

Threats that robots will soon be taking over the world have been happening for decades. In my opinion, this seems highly unlikely in our lifetime, if ever. But there are some worrying statistics surrounding automation and how this process — which uses technology to do things that humans would usually do — could detrimentally impact women. In fact, a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has found that robots are more likely to take women’s jobs than men’s.

Their research has revealed that 9% of women work in occupations with a "high potential for automation" compared […]

Job losses versus freedom: where’s the real RPA?

Job losses versus freedom: where's the real RPA?

Tweet Robotics

For PR people at firms with a strong artificial intelligence or robotic process automation component, the well-aired concerns over technology causing swingeing job losses must be a pesky irritation that never goes away. On the one side are the journalists and others who suggest that AI and RPA are such powerful phenomena that they will wipe out swathes of employment opportunities, leaving human society to either recalibrate, create new jobs… or suffer. On the other side are the technocrats that suggest that we have always seen waves of new technologies and other catalysts and new roles have […]