Economists expect that millions of American jobs are going to be replaced by automation in the coming decades. But where will those job losses take place? Which areas will be hardest hit? Much of the focus regarding automation has been on the Rust Belt. There, many workers have been replaced by machines, and the number…
“This is nice, it tickles me,” Kaspar the social robot tells four-year-old Finn as they play together at an autism school north of London. Kaspar, developed by the University of Hertfordshire, also sings song, imitates eating, plays the tambourine and combs his hair during their sessions aimed at helping Finn with his social interaction and…
A writer for The Guardian warns that artificial intelligence will be taking over many jobs that we previously assumed were safe from automation. Like teaching. Source: Is That “Teaching”? We’re still in the dark ages of what artificial intelligence will be able to do. Sure, we have AlphaGo being able to make “beautiful” moves in the game of…
Former New York Times technology reporter John Markoff used to think robots taking jobs was cause for alarm. Then, he found out that the working-age population in China, Japan, Korea and the U.S. was declining. Source: We need robots to take our jobs, according to John Markoff Some very surprising insight on where robots will be needed.
Automation is happening, and it will bring substantial benefits to businesses and economies worldwide, but it won’t arrive overnight. A new McKinsey Global Institute report finds realizing automation’s full potential requires people and technology to work hand in hand. Source: Harnessing automation for a future that works | McKinsey & Company An eye-opening account into…
Simplifying teacher expertise is no big deal– heck, textbooks are an old tech version of that, saving us all from the trouble of coming up with our own materials. I actually have spent some time thinking about this, resulting in my decision a few years ago to stop using the grammar textbooks my school bought…
For example, robot journalists in the Associated Press wrote thousands of stories last year, mostly about listed companies’ earnings and sports news. The automated technology has proved to be highly accurate in reporting on standardized topics, and was extremely fast. A report on a listed firm’s results could be churned out in a second. AP’s…
Information technology evolves through disruption waves. First the computer, then the web and eventually social networks and smartphones all had the power to revolutionize how people live and how businesses operate. They destroyed companies that weren’t able to adapt, while creating new winners in growing markets. Source: The AI disruption wave | TechCrunch Manufacturing output…
Pick any field “X,” from archaeology to zoology. There either is now a “computational X”, or there soon will be. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, whatever—the future of all these professions will be full of computational thinking. Whether it’s sensor-based medicine, computational contracts, education analytics or agriculture—success is going to rely on being able to do…
Stop educating students for jobs that won’t exist The robots are coming – and they may put your friendly neighborhood retail staffer out of work. Home-improvement superstore Lowe’s recently began employing robot sales assistants in some of its stores. The robots can answer questions in multiple languages and take customers directly to what they’re looking…