The impact of automation and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Image by Danomyte, via Shutterstock

Alan Boyle writes at Geek Wire about job automation,

“Job losses due to automation and robotics are often overlooked in discussions about the unexpected rise of outside political candidates like Trump and Bernie Sanders,” Moshe Vardi, an expert on artificial intelligence at Rice University, said before this month’s conventions.

Vardi pointed out that manufacturing employment has been falling for more than 30 years, and yet U.S. manufacturing output is near its all-time high.

“U.S. factories are not disappearing: They simply aren’t employing human workers,” Vardi said.


Historically, employment in routine jobs has bounced back after recessions. But the past three recessions and recoveries have shown significant declines in routine jobs, which makes for “jobless recoveries.” (Credit: Jaimovich and Siu, 2015, via Artificial Intelligence Now)

...even if the next generation is in for a work-free utopia rather than a robo-apocalypse, it’s high time for policymakers and programmers to address how the automation revolution can work for us – instead of against us.

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