Automation
in sentence
460 examples of Automation in a sentence
Technological advances, especially in
automation
and robotics, are putting a growing number of jobs under pressure.
According to a report released by US President Barack Obama’s administration last year, anywhere from 9% to 47% of jobs will be threatened by
automation
during the coming decade.
More recently, McKinsey released its own report on the topic, in which it estimates that about 60% of all occupations could undergo
automation
of 30% or more of their constituent activities.
Similarly, the effects of
automation
on factory workers tend to be concentrated in particular regions.
America’s Rust Belt, which once boasted a powerful manufacturing sector, is already suffering the consequences of
automation.
And now that our phones talk to us (Apple launched Siri, the artificial voice that answers your spoken questions, on its iPhones in 2010), they fuel dread that they can replace us, just as earlier waves of
automation
rendered much human capital obsolete.
For example, the
automation
of knowledge work – the software and systems that are increasingly capable of performing human tasks that require judgment – could affect 19-29 million jobs by 2025.
In a fully flexible market labor with, as it were, a reserve army of robots, the potential for pervasive
automation
can depress real wage growth even with full employment.
Indeed, those who fear the job-destroying and job-shifting power of
automation
should look upon the sharing economy and breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.
While old fears that
automation
and artificial intelligence would cause widespread structural unemployment have never been borne out, technology and globalization have put downward pressure on wages for all but the most skilled workers in the advanced economies.
The shale-gas revolution has already increased the prospect that energy-intensive manufacture may return to the US; and, as
automation
makes differences in labor costs less important, low-cost renewable energy may drive still more “onshoring.”
Traditional labor-market policies and training systems have not been equal to the task of dealing with the large-scale changes caused by the twin forces of globalization and
automation.
Eurozone countries’ social policies have blunted the distributional impact of job and income polarization fueled by globalization, automation, and digital technologies.
Over the last 15 years, in particular, increasingly powerful digital technologies enabled the
automation
and disintermediation of “routine” white- and blue-collar jobs.
Advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning have accelerated the rate at which
automation
is displacing workers.
Chinese manufacturers are also moving up the value chain, building more “knowledge-intensive” products (for example, communications equipment) and developing flexible approaches to
automation
that blend labor and machinery to maintain responsiveness, while reducing cost.
After all, one prediction on which we can confidently rely is that
automation
will make increasingly large inroads into the world of human work.
In fact, focusing on the minimum wage would almost certainly speed up the
automation
process.
Moreover,
automation
is helping to offset the decline in the growth of the labor force (the result of population aging and slowing migration).
Accordingly, countries ranging from the US, France, Finland, and New Zealand to China and the United Arab Emirates all now have national AI strategies to boost domestic talent and prepare for the future effects of
automation
on labor markets and social programs.
For companies, the conclusion seems to be that retraining a workforce is too challenging, so when new skills are needed, it is better to pursue alternatives like automation, offshoring, and crowdsourcing.
Such an approach can be expected only of the most highly educated and qualified workers – those whose jobs are usually not even at risk from
automation.
The Zero-Sum EconomyLONDON – Across the global economy, the potential for
automation
seems huge.
The other aspect of the problem is the long-term increase in technology-driven unemployment, largely owing to
automation.
Moreover, Africa’s smokestack-less service sectors have the added advantage of being less vulnerable to
automation.
But with wage levels among the world’s highest and 19% of its GDP coming from manufacturing (compared with 12% in the US and 10% in the UK), it should, in theory, be highly vulnerable to Chinese competition and job-destroying
automation.
Digital technologies and
automation
have been replacing workers in agriculture and manufacturing for decades; now they are coming to the services sector.
Their vandalism of machinery was a protest not against automation, but against social arrangements that deprived them of life prospects in the face of technological innovation.
With automation, this trend will only accelerate, with people counting on technology to do everything from ordering groceries to turning on the lights and even locking the doors.
In the years ahead, technological improvements in robotics and
automation
will boost productivity and efficiency, implying significant economic gains for companies.
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