A new white paper by Prof. Daron Acemoglu and graduate student Andrea Mandera finds that the U.S. tax code incentivizes companies to invest in automation rather than employees, reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg. “Favorable taxation of capital leads to excessive automation,” explains Acemoglu.
A new study by researchers from the MIT AgeLab finds that drivers of Tesla cars tend to be more distracted when using the car’s semi-autonomous system, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. The researchers found “drivers glanced more frequently away from the road, and thus paid less attention, when Autopilot was active.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Christopher Mims spotlights Prof. Daron Acemoglu’s research examining the impact of automation on employment and a new essay from Prof. David Autor and Dr. Elisabeth Reynolds that illustrates how the pandemic could exacerbate economic inequality.
Writing for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell highlights a new report by MIT researchers that explores the future of automation. “We can imagine cities jammed with single-occupant autonomous cars, or we can imagine flexible, high-throughput mixed modal systems that benefit from autonomous technologies,” writes Mindell. “What comes to pass is up to us, and will be shaped by policy choices we make today.”
Writing for Fortune about the impacts of automation on the labor market, Geoff Colvin highlights Prof. Daron Acemoglu’s research analyzing the historical effects of technology on workers. Colvin explains that Acemoglu and his colleagues found that, “for the first time in modern history, automation isn’t necessarily good for workers overall.”
Writing for Forbes, research affiliate Thomas Davenport examines the feasibility of robot taxation based on a debate at MIT Technology Review’s Emtech Next conference. “At some point we may need to replace the tax revenue from human jobs lost to automation,” writes Daveport. “If that day ever comes, I hope that the tax revenues issue is the most critical one we have to deal with.”
A study by MIT researchers examines the historical impact of technology on the labor market in an attempt to better understand the potential effect of AI systems, reports Adi Gaskell for Forbes. “The authors propose a number of solutions for improving data on the skills required in the workforce today, and from that the potential for AI to automate or augment those skills,” Gaskell explains.
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson speaks with Wired reporter Matt Simon about the potential impact of technology and automation on everything from jobs and the labor market to climate change. “Technology is an incredibly powerful tool,” says Brynjolfsson, “and if we make the effort, we can use this tool to live lighter on the planet.”
Axios reporter Steve LeVine highlights several new studies co-authored by Prof. Daron Acemoglu that examine the negative impacts of automation on the labor market. “So far, we've used our know-how singularly automating at the expense of labor,” says Acemoglu. “If we keep on doing that, we will keep on destroying more jobs without job gains. It's completely our decision."
While examining the impact of aging societies on growth, The Economist cites a new study co-authored by Prof. Daron Acemoglu, which shows that “when young workers are sufficiently scarce, manufacturers invest in more automation, and experience faster productivity growth as a result.”
The Economist spotlights the work of Prof. David Autor and the influence of his research examining how labor markets respond to disruption. The Economist notes that Autor’s research “is enormously influential, in large part because of his groundbreaking work on the effects on American workers of China’s extraordinary rise.”
In an article for the Financial Times, Ashley Nunes, a research affiliate at MIT, writes about the Ethiopian Airlines crash and examines the limits of automation. “The more automated the system, the more crucial the human operator becomes,” writes Nunes. “That’s because automation doesn’t purge demand for human labour, instead it changes the type of labour needed.”
Axios reporter Steve LeVine highlights how MIT is offering a new edX course focused on the future of work. The course will “track technological history going back to the 19th century, income inequality, labor groups, automation, German manufacturing and more,” LeVine explains.
John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, highlights Prof. David Autor’s research in a show on the impacts of automation.
Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with NBC's Stephanie Ruhle about the ways robots are changing work. “The hollowing out of the middle class has not yet been replaced by middle class 2.0,” says McAfee. “That should be our real homework going forward, not trying to demonize the automation or the technology.”