Tag: Technology

Congress Beware: Automation Inevitable

One of the most salient issues in the 2016 election was America’s changing manufacturing landscape, which arguably handed Donald Trump the presidency. However, all the half-truths about “bad trade deals” sending jobs overseas distracted from the real culprit behind the death of the American factory worker — automation. Research suggests that up to 85 percent of all manufacturing jobs lost over the last several decades were lost to technological strides, not globalization.

In an interview with Mike Allen of Axios, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s comments on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) were completely and utterly baffling, particularly in light […]

Coal Mining Jobs Trump Would Bring Back No Longer Exist

Coal Mining Jobs Trump Would Bring Back No Longer Exist

In Decatur, Ill., far from the coal mines of Appalachia, Caterpillar engineers are working on the future of mining: mammoth haul trucks that drive themselves.

The trucks have no drivers, not even remote operators. Instead, the 850,000-pound vehicles rely on self-driving technology, the latest in an increasingly autonomous line of trucks and drills that are removing some of the human element from digging for coal.

Estimating the employment gains and losses from moves to regulate greenhouse emissions has become a political exercise.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed carbon regulations, warned that former President Barack Obama’s signature Clean Power Plan […]

A robot job invasion: U.S. feds shrug it off, Canada feds fret, so who’s right?

A robot job invasion: U.S. feds shrug it off, Canada feds fret, so who's right?

WASHINGTON — Should we be preparing for the coming invasion of job-stealing, career-crushing robots? It’s a question that’s moved from science-fiction novels to the tip of policy-makers’ tongues.

Canadian and American policy-makers have just delivered very different answers.

Canada’s finance minister tabled a budget that mentioned artificial intelligence and skills training dozens of times, with entire sections on each subject and $5.2 billion for worker re-training.His U.S. counterpart: not so worried about a wave of job-killing automation."It’s not even on our radar screen," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the Axios website last week. "(It’s) 50-100 more years (away)… I’m not […]

Robots taking jobs, wages from US workers

Robots taking jobs, wages from US workers

SAN FRANCISCO

Robots are replacing American workers and significantly slashing wages, according to a report Tuesday.

Researchers behind the survey examined decades of employment data released by the government from 1990 to 2007. They found that for every new robot installed at a factory, the jobs of 6.2 people were eliminated, on average.In addition, economists found that for every robot added per 1,000 workers, all wages were reduced between 0.25 and 0.5 percent in that surrounding area.Automation, the report contends, effects nearly everyone in the labor force, not just manual laborers who are in positions that do not need a […]

Robots are killing jobs after all

Robots are killing jobs after all

So much for the utopian techno future

Industrial robots are depressing wages and increasing unemployment, according to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, non-profit, non-partisan research organization.

Written by MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo, " Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets " [subscription required] appears only days after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin dismissed the possibility of automated systems taking jobs from people, saying , "It’s not even on our radar screen."Similar to the cosmological conundrum about whether the universe will continue expanding indefinitely or collapse upon itself, the impact of […]

The Rise of the Robots, Reviewed

The Rise of the Robots, Reviewed

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of reviews of books, written anytime, anyplace, fiction or nonfiction, that help us to understand contemporary trends in the city. Got an idea for a book that you think puts Dublin in context? Email us at arts@dublininquirer.com.

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At the Spar on Camden Street, a machine makes my coffee. At the Tesco up the way, another machine sells me my groceries. At the Bank of Ireland, a little further on, I can withdraw or deposit money through another machine.All these tasks were once performed by people, who were paid […]

On Automated Future, Treasury Secretary is ‘Out of Touch’

On Automated Future, Treasury Secretary is 'Out of Touch'

Last week, President Donald Trump’s New Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he’s “not worried at all” about automation , stirring up a lot of controversy. Then, on Tuesday, in an interview on CNBC, Democratic Powerbroker and entrepreneur, also neighbor to Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Jeff Greene explained his world views, saying that Mnunchin is “completely out of touch with reality.”

“I think he’s sort of missing it on the business thing,” Greene said. “I mean, 88 percent of manufacturing jobs were lost because of technology. So, to build a wall and keep Mexicans or Latin Americans out of the […]

Future of industry: Automation is going to disrupt employment | The National

Future of industry: Automation is going to disrupt employment | The National

Will robots take over your job? Although technology has long affected the labour force, recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are heightening concerns about automation replacing a growing number of occupations, including highly skilled or “knowledge-based” jobs.
Just a few examples: self-driving technology may eliminate the need for taxi, Uber and lorry drivers; algorithms are playing a growing role in journalism; robots are informing consumers as mall greeters, and medicine is adapting robotic surgery and artificial intelligence to detect cancer and heart conditions.
Of 700 occupations in the United States, 47 per cent are at “high risk” from […]

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

In October 2016, two leading P2P platforms in the U.S. — Lending Club and Prosper — announced a new increase in interest rates for lower-grade loans. The decision was made in order to sustain investor demand, as the model platforms are operating under challenges faced during the last months due to compliance issues with Lending Club and the general turbulence of the P2P lending industry.

However, keeping the investor demand stable is not the only reason for recent changes — as Lending Club announced, delinquencies are growing, especially when it comes to high-risk loans.

October 2016 was not the first time […]

Robots do destroy jobs and lower wages, says new study

Robots do destroy jobs and lower wages, says new study

Photo by Bill Puglianov / Getty Images The fear that automation in the form of robots or artificial intelligence is going to destroy jobs is widespread. But it can be difficult to gauge just how serious to take the threat. Different reports offer different estimations of how many jobs will be lost, while politicians and economists argue that technology creates as many jobs as it destroys, maintaining an equilibrium in employment over the long run.

But is this really true? A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research aims to add some solid numbers to the debate, looking […]