Robots: the next job threat?

Can your job be done by a robot? Can your role, and those of everyone you work with, be filled by just one machine? Automation creeping into the labour market isn’t a new phenomenon, the Luddites have feared this since the 19th century.  Historically jobs under threat were those that involved lower skills and repetitive motion. But as machines get more “intelligent” the prospect of them performing human-only types of employment is not so far in the future; in fact some academics are predicting that by 2040 almost half of current jobs in the United States could be automated. Today robots are already writing news articles, designing buildings and driving cars more safely than ever before. Will technology advancements lead to widespread human unemployment and inequality? What impact will artificial intelligence have on the labour force of the future? 

 

In this episode of The Stream, we speak with:

 

Vivek Wadhwa @wadhwa
President of Innovation & Research, Singularity University
 

Kati Sipp @KatiSipp
Creator, Hack The Union
hacktheunion.org

 

Robbie Allen @RobbieAllen
CEO, Automated Insights

 

Marshall Brain @marshallbrain
Author, The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches
marshallbrain.com

 

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.