Technology & innovation
Speaking at Davos, JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said AI has the potential to “bring about “civil unrest” by destroying jobs, and that businesses and governments need to step in to help.”
Will it eliminate jobs? Yes. Will it change jobs? Yes. Will it add some jobs? Probably. It is what it is."
Here are some highlights from that interview:
Ideally, AI gets phased in "over time" so that workers can be retrained, Dimon said.
If AI upends the labor market dramatically, Dimon said that businesses and government could collaborate to retrain impacted workers.
Dimon offered an example, suggesting that there may come a point when AI advancements mean two million commercial truck drivers no longer have jobs.
“If 2 million people go from driving a truck and making $150,000 a year to a next job [that] might be $25,000,” the result would be "civil unrest," according to Dimon.
Dimon suggested incentives could be put in place to encourage businesses to retain people whose jobs are impacted by AI.
Businesses and government could offer workers support through income assistance, relocation assistance, and retraining in order to avoid mass unemployment and civil unrest.
If it goes too fast for society, that’s where government and business in a collaborative way should step in together and come up with a way to retrain people."
Read more via Fast Company, YouTube (World Economic Forum), TikTok (video)
Boston Dynamics' new generation Atlas humanoid robot is learning autonomous factory tasks through AI-powered training methods including supervised learning and motion capture.
Atlas has been tested at a Georgia Hyundai factory: In October, the 5-foot-9-inch, 200-pound Atlas practiced autonomously sorting roof racks at Hyundai's new Georgia factory, demonstrating the robot's progression toward real-world industrial applications.
Atlas is not reliant on manual programming: Atlas relies on machine learning and demonstrations, using an all-electric body and AI brain powered by Nvidia's advanced microchips.
One Atlas robot can teach other robots what it learns: More than 4,000 digital Atlases trained for six hours in simulation to master tasks like jumping jacks. Once one Atlas learns a skill, the capability uploads to every Atlas robot simultaneously.
The humanoid robot market is increasingly competitive: Goldman Sachs predicts the humanoid market will reach $38 billion within the decade, with U.S. companies competing against state-supported Chinese manufacturers.
Work transformation expected: Experts say humanoids will change the nature of work, with "really repetitive, really backbreaking labor" eventually performed by robots, though they will still require human management, training, and servicing.
Limitations remain significant: Atlas cannot yet perform routine daily tasks like putting on clothes or pouring coffee. No existing humanoids are currently approaching human proficiency in these areas.
Read more via CBS News
There's a significant divide between how executives and workers view the current role of AI, according to a new survey published by AI consulting firm Section.
Highlights from Section's survey of 5,000 white-collar workers:
Two-thirds of surveyed workers said they "saved less than two hours a week or no time at all" by using AI.
That's compared to over 40% of executives who said AI "saved them more than eight hours of work a week."
Workers surveyed by Section were "far more likely to say they were anxious or overwhelmed about AI than excited" than executives.
40% of surveyed workers said they “would be fine never using AI again.”
Read more via The Wall Street Journal
AI is coming to your (Gmail) inbox: If you're one of those people with a Gmail account containing tens of thousands of unread emails, you may soon have a solution. Google is introducing its new AI Inbox that promises to "fundamentally" change "the way people check email." AI Inbox will offer a "high-level overview of what you need to know and do today based on recent emails by looking at conversations and creating action items and summaries of topics." AI Inbox is currently undergoing pilot testing "with a small set of users." (The New York Times)
Apple is developing an AI-powered wearable pin: According to The Information, Apple is "developing an AirTag-sized wearable" pin. The "thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell" could be available to consumers "as early as 2027." The pin is expected to feature "two cameras … designed to capture photos and videos of the user’s surroundings" as well as "three microphones to pick up sounds in the area surrounding the person wearing it." (9to5Mac, The Information)
The federal government is working on developing clinical AI healthcare agents: The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is reportedly "soliciting proposals to develop two agentic AI assistants for clinical care." Experts call the effort a "big swing at creating and deploying generative AI to extend the healthcare workforce." The new research and development opportunity "aims to develop the first FDA-authorized, agentic artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can provide 24/7 specialty care" for cardiovascular disease, according to ARPA-H. (Fierce Healthcare, ARPA-H)
