Name: Are droids taking our jobs?
Uploaded: 2012-09-23T15:10:16Z
Duration: 13 min 50 s
Description: Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating -- jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain't seen nothing yet. But then he steps back to look at big history, and comes up with a surprising view of what comes next.

Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating -- jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain't seen nothing yet. But then he steps back to look at big history, and comes up with a surprising view of what comes next.

Are droids taking our jobs?

Digital technologies are rapidly advancing, taking over tasks that once seemed uniquely human, from writing news articles to driving trucks. In the past decade, job growth has lagged behind economic gains, with fewer people working at the end of the 2000s than at the start. Yet this shift echoes the Industrial Revolution, which multiplied human muscle and transformed society. As machines multiply our mental power, the real opportunity is to focus on innovation and new ways of living, not just lost jobs.