/* ---- Google Analytics Code Below */

Friday, January 29, 2016

Only Humans Need Apply. Davenport and Kirby on Smart Machines

Attended an MIT Webinar covering the topic of the forthcoming book:

Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines   – Available May 24, 2016  by Thomas H. Davenport and Julia Kirby    (Will post talk here)    Will follow with a review.

They write:
" ... An invigorating, thought-provoking, and positive look at the rise of automation that explores how professionals across industries can find sustainable careers in the near future.

Nearly half of all working Americans could risk losing their jobs because of technology. It’s not only blue-collar jobs at stake. Millions of educated knowledge workers—writers, paralegals, assistants, medical technicians—are threatened by accelerating advances in artificial intelligence.

The industrial revolution shifted workers from farms to factories. In the first era of automation, machines relieved humans of manually exhausting work. Today, Era Two of automation continues to wash across the entire services-based economy that has replaced jobs in agriculture and manufacturing. Era Three, and the rise of AI, is dawning. Smart computers are demonstrating they are capable of making better decisions than humans. Brilliant technologies can now decide, learn, predict, and even comprehend much faster and more accurately than the human brain, and their progress is accelerating. Where will this leave lawyers, nurses, teachers, and editors?  ... ' 

No comments: