A new paper by Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson argues that machines and automation will replace specific tasks rather than entire jobs, writes Adi Gaskell for Forbes. As an example, Gaskell notes that there are 26 tasks associated with radiologists, and while “analyzing medical images is well suited to AI, interpersonal skills are currently not.”
Research affiliate Christos Makridis writes in Salon that IT skills, “are increasingly required if you want a job with upward mobility and autonomy.” Makridis argues that universities need to help students gain a working knowledge of cloud computing, big data and information security so that they can compete as the job market becomes more geared towards those that are technologically advanced.
A new study co-authored by Prof. Emilio Castilla suggests that MBA candidates with informal endorsements, rather than letters of recommendation, are more likely to be interviewed for a program, writes Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. “Significantly, the researchers found that the endorsed candidates were not otherwise superior to those without endorsements,” explains Jaschik.
A recent study co-authored by Assistant Prof. Danielle Li in Sloan found evidence to support the “Peter Principle,” which theorizes that the best employees do not always make the best managers, reports Rodd Wagner, a contributor for Forbes. The researchers concluded that “promoting based on lower-level job skills rather than managerial skills can be extremely costly.”
Peter Hirst, Assoc. Dean of Executive Education at Sloan, tells Ruth Umoh of CNBC that the best perk you can offer employees is the ability to work from home. “Redesigning how his team works has created motivated and fulfilled employees ‘who are passionate about what they're doing,’” explained Umoh.
Using recent analyses by Prof. Frank Levy, Eduardo Porter of The New York Times explores the notion that AI will eliminate jobs and negatively impact American politics. Prof. Daron Acemoglu suggests that with more employment options in large cities, the backlash “will be more muted than it was when trade took out the jobs of single-industry company towns.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Visiting Lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger spotlights MIT’s AI and the Future of Work Conference. Wladawsky-Berger writes that participants, “generally agreed that AI will have a major impact on jobs and the very nature of work. But, for the most part, they viewed AI as mostly augmenting rather than replacing human capabilities.”
Jeff Freilich, associate director of the CSAIL Alliance Program, spoke with Here & Now’s Robin Young about a unique collaboration between MIT researchers and their colleagues in Kentucky, “focused on the future of the work in a part of the country where the coal industry has been hemorrhaging jobs.”
In a Financial Times article, Senior Lecturer Robert Pozen details how the proposed tax plan would encourage employers to relocate US jobs to foreign countries. As a result of the foreign profits minimum tax, countries could “offer a corporate tax rate at 10 percent to US companies if they would relocate their manufacturing or research facilities,” explains Pozen.
Research affiliate Sam Ford has enlisted colleagues at MIT and USC, including Prof. Daniela Rus, to participate in his Future of Work Initiative, writes Jeff Howe in The Boston Globe. The group is trying to better understand how technology is impacting the job market in Kentucky and determine how to provide more useful solutions to those affected.
Writing for The Boston Globe, President L. Rafael Reif issues a call for allies to help address the changing nature of work in the age of automation. “Automation will transform our work, our lives, our society," writes Reif. "Whether the outcome is inclusive or exclusive, fair or laissez-faire, is up to us.”
WGBH’s Craig LeMoult reports on the future of work conference held at MIT this week, which examined how automation may impact the labor market. Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson explained that, “we're using technologies to augment not just our muscles but our brains, allowing us to control the world and make them figure things out more effectively.”
A paper from MIT researchers suggests that small towns will be more negatively impacted by automation than larger cities, writes Ari Gaskell for HuffPost. The researchers found that, “automation is more likely in roles with repetitive tasks playing a major part, and such lower skilled roles tend to be concentrated more in smaller towns than larger cities.”
In an article for HuffPost, Erandi Palihakkara highlights MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge, which aims to recognize “organizations (both for profit and non-profit) that are committed to inclusion of technological innovations for economic prosperity of base and middle income earners.”
Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee addresses problems with job growth in the U.S. and the belief that robots will take jobs from humans on WBUR’s Radio Boston. “The problem that we’re facing in this country is not that we stopped creating jobs,” McAfee says. “We’re creating more lower-middle class jobs that are less well paid, more precarious.”