AI can make jobs vanish

While people still outperform robots on a range of tasks around the world, economists predict that JD and other e-commerce businesses are leading a shift that will displace millions of workers worldwide in retail and manufacturing. “This is the kind of technology I expect will disperse everywhere,” said Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots, which explores how artificial intelligence (AI) could reshape the labour market. “It’s absolutely inevitable that this will be a lot more disruptive than people imagine.” A swath of jobs that follow patterns will vanish, Ford said — the global consultancy McKinsey predicts that robots could replace almost a third of the American workforce by 2030 — and a new crop of highly skilled positions will emerge. Demand is expected to swell for workers who can programme and monitor machines, as well as for managers with superior communication styles. (AI still struggles with empathy.)