Humanoid robots are still relatively primitive here in the 21st century. Sure, we have Roombas that can vacuum our floors and Boston Dynamics robots that are doing backflips. But when it comes to the dream of our own personal robot servant, we’re still in the Dark Ages. You can’t go down to Costco and pick up a fully…
When Google introduced Google Duplex, its AI assistant designed to speak like a human, the company showed off how the average person could use the tech to save time making reservations and whatnot. What wasn’t touched on was the possibility that Duplex may have a use on the other side of the line, taking over for call…
More than 50,000 union workers in Las Vegas are set to go on strike if new contracts are not settled by June 1, and at the top of the list of concerns for the Culinary and Bartenders Unions is protection against robot replacements.
Behind the scenes at a BattleBots tournament looks part science fair, part NASCAR pit stop. Robot bits are strewn across work benches, sparks are flying, and crews are furiously prepping for the next battle, replacing smashed parts with new ones and testing their weapons. In one corner, sits Chomp. Chomp looks like a…
Aspiring comedian and Matthew Dellavedova doppelganger Elon Musk admitted Friday that “Humans are underrated” and Tesla, a company that has made its reputation in part by hyping up the promise of automation, has become too reliant on it.
In April, Verizon will begin charging its customers a surprisingly high fee if they intend to pay their monthly bill over the phone with a representative. It’s an overlooked practice that’s spreading among big telecoms and provides huge profit potential while eliminating needs for human personnel. All the while, those…
A Gallup poll released Friday found that 53 percent of Americans see AI, robotics, and automation as a bigger threat to the nation’s jobs than immigration and outsourcing over the next 10 years. The poll, however, found telling gaps in how concerned various demographics were about new tech, with young and…
Whole Foods stores have experienced rampant customer complaints as shelves sit empty following the rollout of a digital inventory system that’s intended to improve efficiency. A new report highlights how the system is also efficiently causing employees to break down, get fired, and seek employment elsewhere.
Amazon’s first Amazon Go, a kind of grocery store without cashiers or a checkout line, will open to the public in Seattle on Monday in the first stage of an experiment that could usher in a new era of shopping.
Jack in the Box CEO Leonard Comma says that higher minimum wages might result in him replacing staff with robots, Business Insider reported.
If you’re like most people, you do not like Wall Street or the financial industry, which commanded a large amount of confidence among just 19 percent of Americans in a poll from last year—perhaps because they crashed the national economy nearly a decade ago and the vast majority of the recovery went to the already rich
Australia uses five different tests to evaluate potential immigrants’ mastery of English, but only one of those tests uses computer-assisted voice recognition. Louise Kennedy, a native English speaker from Ireland, was unfortunate enough to receive the automated test when she was applying for residency in Australia.…
You’ve probably got enough on your plate without wasting time on phone chores that could be running automatically—like clearing out old photos, muting and unmuting your handset, posting to all of your social media accounts at once, and so on. Here are five automations you can set up quickly and for free as soon as you…
While Elon Musk is running around cautioning the world about the real danger of Skynet-style warrior robots, Jack Ma would like you to consider another possible problem: CEOs might lose their overpaid gigs and there will be no golden parachute. Well, let’s be honest, there probably will be a golden parachute...…
We all know, or at least suspect, that robots are taking people’s jobs, but new research shows the dramatic degree to which industrial robots are replacing human workers and forcing down wages.
Earlier this month, IFTTT (If This Then That) changed its automation platform into a more sophisticated tool. Rather than using one-dimensional “recipes” that trigger actions when certain conditions are met, the company launched something entirely new called “applets.” The new applets allow users to create multiple…
We could all use a little more time in the day, and that means you shouldn’t be wasting time navigating through menus or punching through keyboard commands while you’re at work. Luckily, there are a bunch of apps available for Mac and Windows that will help you get work done faster. These are our picks for the best…
A few years ago, a burrito joint near my college campus installed computers so that customers could place their orders without ever having to make eye contact with a cashier. It was meant as a convenience, but my friends and I felt oddly detached ordering food through a computer. And we wondered: Did this signal the…
As the automation era unfolds around is, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that no jobs are safe—not even those belonging to dogs. Introducing Swagbot, the world’s first herding robot.
Remember travel agents? Or Victrola repairmen? Their jobs disappeared as society became more technologically advanced. And a new study shows that most Americans believe robots will replace many human workers soon. But they overwhelmingly think their own jobs are safe.
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