Despite his fears artificial intelligence might one day overtake humanity, Stephen Hawking knew from his own life how profoundly AI could improve humans’ daily lives.
Would a robot appreciate this view?
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Why we’re developing a soft robot inspired by an elephant’s trunk.
Surgeons in Switzerland use the robot da Vinci to aid a hernia operation. Over a third of US hospitals have at least one surgical robot.
AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi
Matt Beane, University of California, Santa Barbara
There are more robots than ever in the operating room – but that’s led to fewer opportunities for surgical trainees. Now, some new doctors are teaching themselves in secret.
A professor teaches an online class with students from around the world.
AP Photo/Gretchen Ertl
As artificial intelligence technology becomes more capable, it threatens more types of jobs – like lawyers, bureaucrats and managers. What social upheaval will happen if those people can’t find work?
The floor scrubber of the year 2000, as seen from the 19th century, complete with attendant human.
Wikimedia Commons
The Industrial Revolution led to centuries of social and economic upheaval. Are economists telling us not to worry about workplace automation because things will be better in a couple hundred years?
Just seeing plants can have a huge impact on your mood.
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Rather than fret about how many jobs future technologies will destroy, we should focus on how to shape them so that they complement the workforce of tomorrow.
In the seventeenth century lawyers, civil servants and other new professionals began to work from offices in Amsterdam, London and Paris.
British Museum/Flickr
Agustin Chevez, Swinburne University of Technology and DJ Huppatz, Swinburne University of Technology
The history of the office illustrates not only how our work has changed but also how work’s physical spaces respond to cultural, technological and social forces.
Thorsten Wuest, West Virginia University; David Romero, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and Johan Stahre, Chalmers University of Technology
People will still be needed on factory floors, even as robots become more common. Future operators will have technical support and be super-strong, super-smart and constantly connected.
University students experiment with human-robot interaction and autonomous manipulation, two elements of manufacturing’s future.
Nikolaus Correll
Today, the U.S. is leading the robotics revolution. But without timely investment, China will overtake us, and could permanently put Americans out of work.
In this episode we look at historical visions of the future and how accurate they were, the future of work, and what it's like to predict the future for a day job.
Machines are set to take over all of our jobs in the near future, author Tim Dunlop predicts.
Franck Robichon/EPA