Will smarter machines cause mass unemployment?

The idea that manual work can be carried out by machines is already familiar; now ever-smarter machines can perform tasks done by information workers, too. What determines vulnerability to automation, experts say, is not so much whether the work concerned is manual or white-collar but whether or not it is routine. Machines can already perform routine … Continue reading "Will smarter machines cause mass unemployment?"

The new tech overlords: technology companies are now officially the most powerful entities in the world

… and they are almost all based in the US (and soon… China).  Read this incredible piece in The Atlantic.  Stat below is via Statista. At the close of trading this Monday, the top five global companies by market capitalization were all U.S. tech companies: Apple, Alphabet (formerly Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.  Bloomberg, which reported on … Continue reading "The new tech overlords: technology companies are now officially the most powerful entities in the world"

Machines and human replacement (McKinsey report)

McKinsey analyzed the detailed work activities of more than 800 occupations from across the US economy to assess the percentage of time spent on activities with the technical potential for automation by adapting currently demonstrated technology. Read the detailed results on the technical potential for automation in various sectors. “While automation will eliminate very few occupations entirely in the next … Continue reading "Machines and human replacement (McKinsey report)"

Neuromorphic chips coming on your mobile device

IBM Research in Zurich has created the world’s first artificial nanoscale stochastic phase-change neurons to store and process data. This demonstration marks a significant step forward in the development of energy-efficient, ultra-dense integrated neuromorphic technologies for applications in cognitive computing. Read more about this exciting discovery and understand more about artificial neurons in this interview with Manuel Le Gallo, … Continue reading "Neuromorphic chips coming on your mobile device"

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines (5* read)