In a world of self-driving cars and big data, smart algorithms and Siri, we know that artificial intelligence is getting smarter every day. Though all these nifty devices and programs might make our lives easier, they're also well on their way to making "good" jobs obsolete. A computer winning Jeopardy might seem like a trivial, if impressive, feat, but the same technology is making paralegals redundant as it undertakes electronic discovery, and is soon to do the same for radiologists. And that, no doubt, will only be the beginning.

In Silicon Valley the phrase "disruptive technology" is tossed around on a casual basis. No one doubts that technology has the power to devastate entire industries and upend various sectors of the job market. ButRise of the Robots asks a bigger question: can accelerating technology disrupt our entire economic system to the point where a fundamental restructuring is required? Companies like Facebook and YouTube may only need a handful of employees to achieve enormous valuations, but what will be the fate of those of us who have not gotten into the great shift from human labor to computation?

“There is renewed interest in the idea that robots, artificial intelligence and algorithms will take over our world. This has been a theme of disruptive innovation since the Luddite revolt of the 18th century but has never come to pass as the economy has created new jobs as old ones were made obsolete. This book shows why now could be different, and although I do not always agree with the solutions put forward in the book, it is clear that if we do not start thinking about the future it will be dystopian. If we are to protect people against the rise of the robots, we need to start rethinking the future now.”
— Duncan McCann

This book is also available from Barking & Dagenham Libraries