A new study from the Brookfield Institute finds that 42% of Canadian jobs are vulnerable to being automated, with dire implications for workforces
AI is not new, so why suddenly does it matter?
Here come the Intelligent Machines.
This week on the BBC you may get the impression that the robots have taken over. Every day, under the banner Intelligent Machines, we will bring you stories on online, TV, radio about advances in artificial intelligence and robotics and what they could mean for us all.
We will ask whether smarter robots and more advanced algorithms will take over all sorts of tasks that we thought were the preserve of humans, posing a threat to employment. We will explore the ethical concerns about artificial intelligence, from the fear that computers will come to dominate humans to the question of who is to blame when a self-driving car hits a pedestrian.
We will examine the cultural impact of AI, asking whether a robot could paint a decent picture or compose a symphony, and we will also emphasise all those areas where this technology is making our lives better.
Why now? Well at the end of last year Prof Stephen Hawking told the BBC that full artificial intelligence could spell the end for mankind. “Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution,” he warned, “couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”
Technological progress isn’t always a good thing.
A paper out this month concludes smart machines, such as robots, have the potential to destroy good-paying jobs and damage the economy.
“In other words, technological progress can be immiserating,” Boston University’sSeth Benzell, Laurence Kotlikoff and Guillermo LaGarda, and Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs write.
The study, “Robots are Us: Some Economics of Human Replacement,” is careful to note that’s not the only possible outcome. But it does predict a long-run decline in labor’s share of income, a cycle of tech booms and busts, and a growing dependency on past software investment rather than continued.
Economists have long debated the role of technology and the future of the economy. And clearly automation is playing a bigger and bigger role in daily life.
Messrs. Benzell, Kotlikoff, LaGarda and Sachs look specifically at the creation of software code that powers machines used to produce goods–that is, robots. Their worry is that the stock of good code will grow during a boom to the point that the demand for new code will decline, leading to lower wages in the high-tech field. That, in turn, means less savings and investment, and the accumulation of fewer assets.
“The long run in such a case is no techno-utopia,” the authors say. “Yes, code is abundant. But capital is dear. And yes, everyone is fully employed. But no one is earning very much.”
During the ensuing bust, consumption falls and not enough capital accumulates for the next round of investment.
“In short, when smart machines replace people, they eventually bite the hands of those that finance them,” the authors say.
Read more » The Wall Street Journal
Learn more » http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/02/17/the-robots-are-coming-for-your-paycheck/