The first is, “As robots grow ever more sophisticated, they will eliminate jobs at a frenzied pace. The economic value of workers will dive as humans are unable to compete in the job market with the robots. Massive unemployment and social unrest are our future, while all along the 1% will grow wealthier."
The other one is, “We’ve heard that dystopian refrain for two hundred years. Technology is only disruptive to labor in the very short term. Versatile humans always learn to use the new technology to increase their productivity and value. The history of the US, at least, is one of almost constant near-full employment and rising standard of living.”
Which of these is true? Well, it depends on three different things, each of which is hard to estimate:
1) What is the true number of jobs that robots and AI will be able to do?
2) How quickly will they learn to do those jobs?
3) How many new jobs will be created by the new technologies?
It is true that we did go from an agricultural economy to an industrial one, eliminating the livelihoods of 70% of Americans. And it is true that those farmers went on to become higher-paid factory workers without a hitch. But all that took place over the leisurely course of more than a century. It is unclear how the economy and our society would handle the loss of, say, 15% of the jobs over a decade.
At Gigaom Change in Austin, we are going to dive into these questions as we look at different ways that robots are being deployed right now. We will explore the kinds of jobs which robots and AI will be able to do in the near future. (Hint: It is not just repetitive physical tasks.) And we will look at the impact that this transformation will have on a company… and on the world.
We invite you to come join the conversation. Gigaom Change is being held Sept 21-23. Early Adopter pricing is still available. Click here to register.
| Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe |
| Gigaom.com 401 Congress Suite 1540 Austin, Texas 78701 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy. |  |
