An invigorating, thought-provoking, and positive look at the rise of
automation that explores how professionals across industries can find
sustainable careers in the near future.
Nearly half of all working Americans could risk losing their jobs
because of technology. It's not only blue-collar jobs at stake. Millions
of educated knowledge workers--writers, paralegals, assistants, medical
technicians--are threatened by accelerating advances in artificial
intelligence.
The industrial revolution shifted workers from farms to factories. In
the first era of automation, machines relieved humans of manually
exhausting work. Today, Era Two of automation continues to wash across
the entire services-based economy that has replaced jobs in agriculture
and manufacturing. Era Three, and the rise of AI, is dawning. Smart
computers are demonstrating they are capable of making better decisions
than humans. Brilliant technologies can now decide, learn, predict, and
even comprehend much faster and more accurately than the human brain,
and their progress is accelerating. Where will this leave lawyers,
nurses, teachers, and editors?
In Only Humans Need Apply, Thomas Hayes Davenport and Julia Kirby
reframe the conversation about automation, arguing that the future of
increased productivity and business success isn't either human or
machine. It's both. The key is augmentation, utilizing technology to
help humans work better, smarter, and faster. Instead of viewing these
machines as competitive interlopers, we can see them as partners and
collaborators in creative problem solving as we move into the next era.
The choice is ours.
