Amazon puts delivery robots on streets – with a human in tow
By: Alex Hern January 24, 2019 Amazon’s drone delivery service may be missing in action but the company has not given up on its dream of robots delivering parcels. It is launching Amazon Scout, a service employing six squat six-wheeled delivery robots, across Snohomish County, Washington, just north of its Seattle HQ. “These devices were […]
‘AI’ to hit hardest in U.S. heartland and among less-skilled: study
By: Reuters January 24,2019 The Midwestern states hit hardest by job automation in recent decades, places that were pivotal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s election, will be under the most pressure again as advances in artificial intelligence reshape the workplace, according to a new study by Brookings Institution researchers. The spread of computer-driven technology into […]
70,000 retail jobs lost in 2018, says trade body BRC
By: Sebastian McCarthy January 24, 2019 Panic over further troubles on the high street has been underlined this morning, with new figures showing that some 70,000 retail jobs were lost last year. A retail employment monitor out today from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has found that the total number of jobs was down 2.2 […]
Automation and Artificial Intelligence: How machines are affecting people and places
By: Brookings January 24, 2019 At first, technologists issued dystopian alarms about the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to destroy jobs. Then came a correction, with a wave of reassurances. Now, the discourse appears to be arriving at a more complicated understanding, suggesting that automation will bring neither apocalypse nor utopia, but instead […]