Tag: Technology

Automation, AI and the future of jobs

Automation, AI and the future of jobs

Will automation, AI and robotics mean a jobless future, or will their productivity free us to innovate and explore? Is the impact of new technologies to be feared, or a chance to rethink the structure of our working lives and ensure a fairer future for all? On googling ‘will a robot take my job?’ I find myself on a BBC webpage that invites me to discover the likelihood that my work will be automated in the next 20 years. I type in ‘editor’. “It’s quite unlikely, eight per cent” comes back. Quite reassuring – but, coming from a farming […]

Ricchuiti: Automation, Trump’s immigration policies’ impact upon making America great, again

Ricchuiti: Automation, Trump’s immigration policies’ impact upon making America great, again

Make America Great Again has been the rallying cry since the onset of Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency. In fact, according to many experts, during the course of his brief presidency, the economy pretty much has been great. Part of the reason so far has been Trump’s relaxation of regulations which businesses have found suffocating. Also, many experts and business people point to the recent tax break. But, what exactly does “Make America Great Again” mean in the area of its economy?

Last week, Tulane’s Freeman School of Business’s economist, Peter Richuiti and I, discussed various economic issues confronting […]

Will robots take care of grandma? Maybe, if she’s rich

Will robots take care of grandma? Maybe, if she's rich

Some are heralding new technologies as the key to managing the so-called ‘silver tsunami.’ But there are significant privacy, labour and equality concerns. A robot at the 2018 Elderly Care fair in Germany. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved. Across suburban America, cheerful advertisements and roadside billboards market idyllic retirement communities and state-of-the-art facilities where grandma can live out her last days in comfort and peace. In Japan, adorable robotic seals are sold as companions for lonely seniors. A recent Amazon ad shows grandma overcome with emotion, video-chatting with distant relatives.

With the world’s population ageing at an unprecedented […]

Reinventing Rwandan Industries: It’s All about Competitiveness!

Reinventing Rwandan Industries: It’s All about Competitiveness!

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0 if you will, is here. Buzzwords such as block chain, artificial intelligence and robotics are smart technologies changing the face of industrial processes and production globally.

The question is, how are African countries positioning themselves to harness the opportunities and benefits of acquiring and adapting new technologies into their production processes? Kampeta Sayinzoga Rwanda understands the urgency and speed of this technological age, and that the only path to industrial growth is through development and integration of science, technology and innovation into enterprises.

This is evidenced in Rwanda’s Vision 2050 and the 7 Year […]

Protect Long Island’s economy in the age of automation

Protect Long Island’s economy in the age of automation

Change is coming — soon.

But will Long Island be ready?

Over the next decade or two, the region’s employment picture will undergo a significant transformation. Some jobs will disappear. Others will require very different skill sets. And there will be positions and industries that are only toddling now or are yet to be imagined.The Island has seen seismic shifts in its business landscape before. Too often, the region plays catch-up, confronting the fallout of a disappearing sector, like aerospace and defense, as it’s fading, or courting an industry, like biotech, years after it has sunk roots elsewhere.This time, Long Island […]

Robots to make life grim for the working class

Robots to make life grim for the working class

Economists warn that routine tasks like assembly-line manufacturing or traditional office work are increasingly automated.

Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the world wide web, once declared:

The spread of computers and the internet will put jobs in two categories. People who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do.Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration, and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously. As machine-learning technology enjoys rapid progress, more top researchers are […]

High-Skilled White-Collar Work? Machines Can Do That, Too

High-Skilled White-Collar Work? Machines Can Do That, Too

A Stitch Fix warehouse in San Francisco. The company relies on algorithms to help personalize shipments to customers. One of the best-selling T-shirts for the Indian e-commerce site Myntra is an olive, blue and yellow colorblocked design. It was conceived not by a human but by a computer algorithm — or rather two algorithms.

The first algorithm generated random images that it tried to pass off as clothing. The second had to distinguish between those images and clothes in Myntra’s inventory. Through a long game of one-upmanship, the first algorithm got better at producing images that resembled clothing, and the […]

Robots Portend Grim Future for Working Class: Viewpoint

Robots Portend Grim Future for Working Class: Viewpoint

Email This Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the world wide web, once declared:

“The spread of computers and the internet will put jobs in two categories. People who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do.”

Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration, and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously. As machine-learning technology enjoys rapid progress, more top researchers are investigating the question of what work will look like in a […]

Tech advances will make life grim for the working class

Tech advances will make life grim for the working class

Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the World Wide Web, once declared: “The spread of computers and the Internet will put jobs in two categories: people who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do.”

Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration, and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously. As machine-learning technology enjoys rapid progress, more top researchers are investigating the question of what work will look like in a world filled with […]

HSBC previews the banking staff of the future

HSBC previews the banking staff of the future

HSBC has predicted some of the future job titles of its staff as it transforms into a digital-first operation.

With the bank currently recruiting more than 1,000 staff in roles supporting its digital plans, job titles such as “mixed-reality experience designer” and “conversational interface designer” might not be that far away. When businesses, government and academia allay fears of jobs losses as a result of the arrival of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, with claims that they will be replaced by new roles, there is generally scepticism. It is difficult to imagine new jobs being created at the same […]