Tag: Technology

Worries about premature industrialisation

Worries about premature industrialisation

BANGLADESH EXPORTS 60% more ready-made garments than India, a country with over eight times its population. On the busy roads of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, white vans nose through the traffic on “Emergency Export Duty”, according to the ambulance-like letters painted on their sides. The success of this quintessentially labour-intensive industry helped make Bangladesh a lower-middle-income country in 2014, according to the World Bank’s classifications.

But some think that Bangladesh’s garment industry now faces a new problem almost as grave as the traffic: the threat of automation. Robots are already common in other kinds of manufacturing, but still rare in clothes-making. […]

AI and robots could threaten your career within 5 years

AI and robots could threaten your career within 5 years

Unlike Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk , who warns of the dangers of artificial intelligence, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates doesn’t believe the new technology is anything that should cause panic.

"This is a case where Elon and I disagree," says Gates in an interview with the Wall Street Journal and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

But "Workforce of the Future," a report released in September by PwC , doesn’t do much to support the Microsoft billionaire’s case. The report, which examines research as well as a survey of 10,000 people, has some troubling implications.Chief among them: "Typical" careers, in which […]

As automation picks up steam, more Americans don’t want to be hired by a robot

As automation picks up steam, more Americans don't want to be hired by a robot

Automation came for the secretarial pool as computer keyboards steadily replaced typewriters in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet today’s administrative assistants deal with email, scanners, webcasts and other types of technology.

That’s an observation from Iba Masood, who has a somewhat unpopular opinion among Americans — that advances in automation might lead to different kinds of jobs, not fewer jobs.

“I think people should be pragmatically viewing the problem,” said Ms. Masood, co-founder and CEO of automated talent acquisition company Tara.AI. She spoke during a Thrival Innovation Festival panel on artificial intelligence ethics and policy at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in […]

The U.S. Could Be Ready for Universal Basic Income

The U.S. Could Be Ready for Universal Basic Income

It used to be considered radical. But the idea that a society could ease poverty and increase productivity by giving every one of its citizens a monthly or annual stipend, no strings attached, is no longer a far-fetched one in other parts of the world. And now some progressive leaders in the U.S. are pointing to the economic model’s alleged success in Europe in the hope that the notion takes root here, too.

The concept, known as a universal basic income (or UBI for short), is simple enough: Give citizens enough money every year, gratis, so that they can pay […]

Americans Anxious That Robots Will Take Their Jobs

Americans Anxious That Robots Will Take Their Jobs

One of the nation’s leading research firms, the Pew Research Center, released the results of a study called “Automation in Everyday Life.” Among the conclusions is that a large number of people think robots will make it more difficult to find jobs. Many respondents also said legislation may be the only way to protect jobs threatened by technology.

A number of other experts already have said the automation trend will hurt the employment market, especially among jobs that require few skills. Retail jobs, bank tellers and low-level factory work are among the jobs most likely to be replaced by robot-like […]

Tech Leaders Call AI and Automation a Threat to Human Life

Tech Leaders Call AI and Automation a Threat to Human Life

People everywhere are concerned about technology’s impact on jobs and the economy, but was entrepreneur Elon Musk channeling his inner Luddite when he warned attendees at a National Governors Association meeting in Nevada last Summer about the economic disruptions that automation and artificial intelligence will cause? It wasn’t a casual slip. For good measure, he also sounded the alarm about the threat AI could pose to human life on Earth. In an interview with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval from a state where Tesla is building a highly automated electric car engine “gigafactory” near Reno, Musk warned that “until people […]

Will your job be automated? 70% of Americans say no

Will your job be automated? 70% of Americans say no

A new report from Paysa suggests automation jobs will put 10,000 people to work, and big companies will spend $650 million on annual salaries to make it happen. Sean Dowling (@seandowlingtv) has more. Buzz60 WASHINGTON — Most Americans believe their jobs are safe from the spread of automation and robotics, at least during their lifetimes, and only a handful says automation has cost them a job or loss of income.

Still, a survey by the Pew Research Center also found widespread anxiety about the general impact of technological change. Three-quarters of Americans say it is at least "somewhat realistic" that […]

McCumber column: Tech schools are driving force behind modernization (copy) (copy)

McCumber column: Tech schools are driving force behind modernization (copy) (copy)

Congratulations to Baraboo High School graduate Chris Dalhoff for winning the Automation Challenge 2.0 with his partner Eric Laylon of Madison. The national recognition not only brought $60,000 in prizes to Madison Area Technical College, it has opened up employment opportunities for these two young men.

More importantly, congratulations to Dalhoff’s dad. According to Jake Prinsen’s article in the Sept. 30 Baraboo News Republic, it turns out that, in this case, father does know best. It was dad that advised the future automation technician to consider taking automation courses at MATC. Through his dad’s advice, he learned factories are not […]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants to take advantage of AI to get more people jobs

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants to take advantage of AI to get more people jobs

Over the last few years, there has been a phrase that’s crept into the lexicon of our current day tech-filled culture and the phrase ‘techno-panic’ doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon. As more jobs and industries become automated, the fear that technology will outpace humanities ability to adjust has a lot of people lashing out the ideas of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning or even the use of digital assistants.

Counter-arguing the growing wave of technophobia is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who believes that Artificial Intelligence will help create more jobs than many feel it will consume. Admittedly, Nadella […]

On automation and the future of work: A short-read Q&A with economist Daron Acemoglu

As the next generation of robots arrives in the workplace, will they enable workers or replace them? According to MIT’s Daron Acemoglu, one of the most frequently cited economists in the world, this distinction is the difference between technology that raises workers’ wages versus tech that reduces overall employment and stifles wage growth.

Daron Acemoglu is a professor of economics at MIT, a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy Magazine, and co-author of the book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty . He joined me to discuss his recent research and what technological innovation means for the […]