You’ve probably heard of lots of people who got laid off from their jobs because there’s a new machine in town that could do more things than they could. This has been a sad trend throughout the years, as old as the Industrial Revolution, or perhaps older. And because robots are now slowly becoming an essential element in some services, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear more stories about people getting fired.
In many parts of the U.S., robots have been replacing workers over the last few decades. But to what extent, really? Some technologists have forecast that automation will lead to a future without work, while other observers have been more skeptical about such scenarios.
Now a study co-authored by an MIT professor puts firm numbers on the trend, finding a very real impact—although one that falls well short of a robot takeover. The study also finds that in the U.S., the impact of robots varies widely by industry and region, and may play a notable role in exacerbating income inequality.
More details about this over at TechXplore.
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