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According to a new report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, automation will not wipe out warehouse jobs, but will make them harder. While some technologies could alleviate the most arduous tasks of warehouse work (such as heavy lifting), this likely will be coupled with attempts to increase the workload and pace of work, with…

At a recent Federal Reserve event in Kansas City, Chair Jerome Powell suggested that workplace automation could exacerbate inequality in the coming decades. Powell pointed to the challenging “distributional consequences” of some work being performed much more efficiently and cheaply through automation. “The concern that you raise has always been the case, going back years…

A new report from McKinsey suggest that the adoption and implementation of AI and automation by U.S. companies could further widen the racial wealth gap. With companies having already invested an estimated $20 – $30 billion in artificial technologies, McKinsey’s research shows that African Americans could be most affected by the disruptive forces of automation…

Alastair Mactaggart, who spurred the enactment of the California Consumer Privacy Act with a ballot initiative, has submitted a new measure regarding AI. The initiative would require companies to disclose to California residents when they are the subject of automated “profiling.” Employers would further have to disclose to California residents “meaningful information about the logic…

McDonald’s is now accepting job applications via digital assistant. It starts off when you turn to your device and yell: “[Alexa or Google], help me get a job at McDonald’s.” Then the app will ask for personal data (such as your location); at the end of the process, it will send you a text with…

As AI technologies become integrated into the audit workflow, auditors are developing a level of speed and accuracy that would have been considered superhuman less than a decade ago. This is enabling them to focus more time and energy on higher risk parts of the audit — the ones that expose them to much higher…

Local and city governments around the country are tacking the use of facial recognition software with varying results. In 2017, Vermont disallowed the search of its driver’s license databases by facial recognition after it became clear the program was illegal under state law. The Seattle Police Department, working with the American Civil Liberties Union of…

Microsoft Asia and IDC Asia/Pacific today unveiled the latest findings for the study, “Future-Ready Skills: Assessing APAC Education Sector’s Use of AI” to Education leaders at the Asian Summit on Education and Skills (ASES). Institutions that have implemented AI in their processes expect to see close to 4 times increased funding by 2021. Source: Business…

Big Box Retail is utilizing machine learning to relay information about products, shopping behavior, and forecasting demand. The Intelligent Retail Lab is a Walmart store equipped with thousands of cameras that relay information about the stock or condition of products as well as customer shopping behavior. Target has worked on a machine learning algorithm to…

The Seattle Times provides a cheat sheet on the basic terms surrounding AI and the history of robots. Over the coming months, the Seattle Times will explore the social and economic effects of AI by examining regulation of the technology, privacy concerns and the changing landscape of labor in the AI Age. Source: Seattle Times