The Impact of Technology on Work as We Know It

Written by: Kristin Luck | Luck Collective

Automation, AI and the impact of technology on the future of work as we know it are hot-button topics and if you’re trying to scale a business, understanding how to use these technologies to boost profitability or create new products and services is imperative.

This past Fall, during a talk I gave at AMAI in Mexico City, I discussed the impact of automation, AI and IBM’s Watson and, specifically, what the impact of these new technologies mean for both employees and business owners.

Did you know that Watson has so comprehensively mastered bankruptcy law that a major NY law firm last year laid off 50 top bankruptcy lawyers?

Don’t think your business will be impacted? The CEO of Deutsche Bank has predicted that half of its 97,000 employees could be replaced by robots. Of course, workers in manufacturing have known about this for years – the US automotive sector is booming, but with far fewer workers than when it was on the verge of collapse in 2009. As much as we wish it weren’t so, automation decreases the demand for labor.

Related: If Machines Are Going to Wipe out Our Jobs, What Will We Do?

Elon Musk recently said the machine-over-mankind threat was humanity’s “biggest existential threat” and although I think that’s a bit of an overstatement, corporate leaders would be mistaken if they ignored how people will be affected.

This timely article from Harvard Business Review, entitled The Future of Work is Imagination, Creativity and Strategy , lays out four ways to "think about the people left behind after the trucks bring in all the new technology".

Are you ready for the impact of technology in your business?