The World Bank estimates that up to 77% of jobs in China could be made redundant by machines in the long term. Investing in robots will become more attractive for manufacturers. The Chinese government also pledges to make China a “world factory” of robots. But real changes are much slower. Reports say that large numbers of workers are still used on production lines doing repetitive tasks such as scrubbing speaker systems with toothbrushes. Despite the fact that China’s labor costs are six times higher than 10 years ago, workers are often still cheaper than robots in short term.
ETH Zürich Professor Brad Nelson on AI, China, Medical Robotics and Commercialization
Back in 2014, Stephen Hawking warned that people should be careful about artificial intelligence (AI)—the full development of it could spell the end of the human race, he said. Brad Nelson, professor of robotics and intelligent systems at ETH Zürich, is optimistic about the technology’s development. To him, machines and robotics are augmenting instead of replacing the human workforce. In this interview with CKGSB Knowledge, Nelson talks about the state of AI so far, China’s advantages in this industry and, as an engineer, his insights into the relation between humans and machines.
The Robots Will Take Our Jobs. Then What?
What will happen to humans when the robots take away our jobs? Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots, on the imminent threat to jobs and the capitalist system.
Robots in China: The Bot Connection
How the growing use of robots in China will impact different sectors of the economy, as well as the country’s robot makers.
Ed Hess on Building the New Age Learning Organization
To stay relevant in the future, individuals need to learn much more quickly and differently. That entails a different kind of learning organization.
CKGSB Knowledge Fall 2014 Issue: The Alibaba IPO and Variable Interest Entities
The Fall 2014 issue of CKGSB Knowledge is out! It has articles and interviews like: COVER STORY: Around the World: In a circuitous way, billions of dollars rely on an international game of legal cat and mouse. China’s top companies use variable interest entities, but now the Alibaba IPO is shining a light on this legal grey area. CHINA BY NUMBERS: From […]
The Future of Work: Hello robot, goodbye worker
How will the progress of IT and automation change the future of work? In 1988, Harvard Business School Professor Shoshana Zuboff predicted that the working world was on the verge of a revolution in which many jobs would be “informated”-automated and computerized in ways that would greatly extend human capacities even as it dumbs-down the […]
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