New Scientist
Volume 248, Issue 3303, 10 October 2020, Pages 44-48
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Covid-19's AI revolution

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(20)31808-XGet rights and content

Automation was already taking over jobs, but the coronavirus pandemic is hugely accelerating the trend. Should we be worried, asks Sandy Ong

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Getting serious

Faced with employees under lockdown and the need for strict social distancing measures in the workplace, many companies have been putting a rocket under those trends, either by looking at greater automation for the first time or by accelerating and extending existing plans.

“There's so much room for automation now,” says Derik Pridmore, CEO of Osaro, a company in San Francisco that develops AI systems for warehouse robots. “If companies were thinking about it before, they're now doing something.

Work redefined

Economist James Bessen at Boston University in Massachusetts agrees with that assessment. What we are likely to see isn't fewer jobs overall, but different ones. “There's no evidence that AI will lead to massive unemployment, but there will be increased churn,” he says. “Automation can actually lead to new jobs.” Already, we are seeing an increase in demand for the likes of drone operators, data scientists, cryptographers, digital marketing specialists, video tech support and virtual event

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