Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work

Authors Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau, who are work and human capital experts, use an original, four-step approach to help leaders create a precise and actionable plan to decide how, when, and where to apply work automation. The four steps–deconstruct, optimize, automate, and reconfigure–are intended to teach leaders how to create the optimal environment for humans and machines to work together successfully. Reinventing Jobs provides numerous examples and practical advice about ways companies can stay current on technological trends as work and automation continue to evolve.

SEE: Thinking outside the bot: Automation and the future of employment (TechRepublic)

Applied Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook For Business Leaders

Written by AI experts Mariya Yao, Adelyn Zhou, and Marlene Jia, and selected as the CES 2018 Top Technology Book of the Year, Applied Artificial Intelligence is a helpful guide for business leaders who are interested in implementing AI in their companies. The book focuses on how to prioritize the right opportunities, build a diverse team of experts, conduct strategic experiments, design solutions that benefit your organization and society, and how to use AI and ML applications to drive concrete business decisions.

SEE: The true costs and ROI of implementing AI in the enterprise (ZDNet)

The Robots Are Coming!: The Future of Jobs in the Age of Automation

In his book, author Andru00e9s Oppenheimer explores the ways jobs are being affected by the rapid growth of automation and online products and services. The Robots Are Coming! suggests that automation will not create massive unemployment, but it will certainly change the ways in which we work. Oppenheimer interviews experts from Oxford University who indicate that in the next 20 years 47% of existing jobs are at risk of becoming automated or rendered obsolete, particularly in the areas of food service, legal work, banking, and medicine.

SEE: Robots will kill 36M American jobs by 2030 (TechRepublic)

Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines

In Only Humans Need Apply, authors Thomas Hayes Davenport and Julia Kirby look at jobs and automation in a different light, arguing that the future of increased productivity and business success is the combination of humans and machines working in tandem. The key, as Davenport and Kirby explain, is augmentation. The authors suggest that we should not see machines as competition for jobs, but rather partners and collaborators that will help us work better, smarter, and faster.

SEE: Robots beware: Humans will still be bosses of machines, say Davenport and Kirby in new book (TechRepublic)

The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work

Author Richard Baldwin, a leading globalization expert, explores the role of AI and robotics from a global and economic standpoint. The Globotics Upheaval discusses how instant machine translators are dissolving language barriers and allowing for “tele-migrants” to enter different job markets, how AI-enabled computers create competition for white collar jobs, the role of automated ordering systems in restaurants, and other digital technologies that make life more convenient but may eliminate jobs for human workers. Baldwin offers effective strategies–like focusing on the social value of work–and seeks to prepare people for the imminent robotic workforce.

SEE: Why AI will force businesses to rethink balance between the work of humans and machines (TechRepublic)

The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future

In The War on Normal People, author Andrew Yang presents a more bleak view of the American economy and the effects of technologies like AI, robotics, and automation software. Yang’s book explains that these advancements are making millions of Americans’ jobs irrelevant, and the consequences are already being felt in the form of political unrest, drug use, and other social issues.

Yang suggests a different future revolved around the implementation of Universal Basic Income, providing all citizens with a guaranteed income in order to create a new, more durable economy.

SEE: The economic – and human – impact of the rise of robots and AI (CBS News)

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

In his New York Times bestseller, Martin Ford explores how jobs and the economy will evolve as a result of technological advances. With AI possibly making jobs like paralegals, journalists, and even computer programmers obsolete, Ford looks at the future of the job market and how it will continue to transform. Rise of the Robots is an essential read for understanding how employment and society will have to adapt to the changing market.

SEE: Bad news for IT: Robots and artificial intelligence will take jobs (ZDNet)

The Robots are Coming: A Human's Survival Guide to Profiting in the Age of Automation

John Pugliano, author and host of Wealthsteading Podcast, discusses automation in relation to the job market in a straightforward manner. The Robots are Coming suggests that there may be no way to avoid growing technologies, but there are ways to be successful in the changing economy. By understanding potential job threats, developing irreplaceable skills, fostering creative advantages, identifying robot-proof careers, and spotting investment opportunities, one can overcome the challenges presented by the “disruptive innovations.”

SEE: Research: Automation and the future of IT jobs (Tech Pro Research)

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

MIT professor and author Max Tegmark has spent much of his career researching ways to keep AI beneficial. In his book, Tegmark tackles the big questions about the rise of AI; for example: How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give kids today? Will machines eventually outsmart us and replace humans on the job market, and perhaps altogether? Life 3.0 answers these questions and many more, and empowers the reader to join the very important conversation about what the future holds for humans and machines.

SEE: Video: What is AI safety? (ZDNet)

The Industries of the Future

Author Alec Ross, a leading innovation and technology policy expert, uses his years of experience as Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Secretary of State and travel to 41 countries to provide a guide to the technological changes we can expect in the coming decade. The Industries of the Future addresses the tough questions about robotics, AI, big data, and the digitization of money/economies, analyzes how global trends are affecting the way we live, and describes how to navigate the inevitable changes we face.

SEE: 6 ways the robot revolution will transform the future of work (TechRepublic)

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

Author and quantitative futurist Amy Webb has focused her research on how AI and other emerging technologies will shape the way we work, live, and govern. In The Big Nine, Webb examines the ways AI is essentially broken and how Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple are short-changing our futures for immediate financial gain. She predicts that within the next few decades, AI will, by design, “begin to behave unpredictably, thinking, and acting in ways which defy human logic.” Webb suggests a strategy for altering this course and ways to free ourselves from the algorithms and powerful corporations that try to control our future.

SEE: Why AI is nothing new (TechRepublic)

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

In this New York Times bestseller, authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee explore the changes we face as society becomes more technologically advanced. Brynjolfsson and McAfee predict that many professions, from lawyers to truck drivers, will be affected as companies will continually be forced to adapt or die. The Second Machine Age examines recent economic indicators that reflect this shift, such as fewer people in the workforce, and falling wages, despite soaring productivity and profits. Drawing on years of research, the authors suggest survival strategies like: Revamping education to prepare people for the next economy, pairing processing power with human ingenuity, and embracing policies that make sense in a irrevocably changed landscape.

SEE: Q&A: Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson, co-authors of The Second Machine Age (ZDNet)

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

As publisher of Gigaom and founder of several high-tech companies, author and futurist Byron Reese has spent much of his life studying how technology influences human history. Reese looks at the previous technological advances made by humans: Fire, agriculture, and the invention of the wheel and writing. He suggests that we now face a “fourth change” due to the creation of AI and robotics. The Fourth Age explores various topics, including machine consciousness, automation, employment, creative computers, artificial life, AI ethics, superintelligence, the implications of extreme prosperity, and how these technologies will forever change humanity.

SEE: Robots will not take over most jobs (TechRepublic)

The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

In The Inevitable, author Kevin Kelly, founding executive director of Wired magazine, lays out his vision of the future and how technology will affect our daily lives. From virtual reality in the home to AI embedded in all manufactured goods, Kelly examines these and other deep trends, while exploring how they overlap and are all part of a codependent network. He offers tips for the reader to help understand and embrace these coming technological changes. The Inevitable presents an optimistic outlook of the technological revolution and will benefit anyone needing guidance on what direction their business, industry, or life is heading.

SEE: What is AI? Everything you need to know about Artificial Intelligence (ZDNet)

The Future of Leadership: Rise of Automation, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

tAuthor Brigette Tasha Hyacinth, a leadership and management expert, offers a comprehensive view of what is happening in the world of AI and emerging technologies. The Future of Leadership provides valuable insights about topics that include whether AI is our greatest existential threat and whether AI will take away jobs from humans. She suggests that we need effective leaders who will put people first.

Also see

• Managing AI and ML in the enterprise (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature) | Download the free PDF version (TechRepublic)
• Photos: 35 books every techie should read (TechRepublic)
• Robots more likely to steal your job if you live in one of these 10 states (TechRepublic)
• 87% of companies will add workers this year, despite rise of robots (TechRepublic)
• Why Walmart’s robot army won’t be a job killer (ZDNet)
• AI, Automation, and Tech Jobs (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature)
• Robots could replace humans in a quarter of US jobs by 2030 (CNET)
• Artificial Intelligence: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic on Flipboard)
• More must-see photo galleries (TechRepublic on Flipboard)