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Automation

COVID-19

Are businesses automating at a faster rate thanks to COVID-19?

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Oct 21, 2020
A forced digitization is taking place, as is a rethinking of how business should get done.
A bartender makes drinks at an event promoting AI in London last year.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Can made-to-order fashion change how we shop?

by Kai Ryssdal , Alli Fam and Bennett Purser
Feb 24, 2020
A slate of startups are working to make custom clothing, fast.
Models walk the runway during the Marco De Vincenzo fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week.
Pietro S. D'Aprano/Getty Images
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Automation and how it could worsen inequality

by David Brancaccio , Candace Manriquez Wrenn and Daniel Shin
Jan 29, 2020
Economist Daniel Susskind explores why automation could worsen inequality in his new book "A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond."
Workers at Kinross Clothing manufacturers in Maitland, sew men's trousers in Cape Town in 2017.
Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images
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Inside one highly automated Chinese factory

by Jennifer Pak
Nov 13, 2019
China's Shuoke sports equipment factory says robots have helped triple its production.
A worker looks on as a robotic arm at the Shuoke factory sorts plastic panels to form a soccer ball. Machines like this have helped the firm cope with rising costs. (Shanghai 808 Studio)
Shanghai 808 Studio
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Fall of the Berlin Wall

Automation is likely to leave some local economies behind

by David Brancaccio and Rose Conlon
Nov 6, 2019
Without intervention, the disparity between thriving and lagging economies will worsen.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Workplace Culture

Worker productivity declined for first time in four years

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Nov 6, 2019
No, it's not because of social media or politics.
One economist said we're stuck in the slow lane when it comes to productivity.
Chaloner Woods/Getty Images
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Workplace Culture

Workers are welcoming AI in the office

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Oct 16, 2019
Robots could be coming to take our jobs, but maybe the ones we don't want to do anyway.
AI could be used for menial tasks, like budgeting or scheduling.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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Workplace Culture

Businesses tap virtual reality to train workers

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Aug 21, 2019
VR training is being used to prep workers for Black Friday, for warehouse safety issues and to improve communication.
At Farmers Insurance in Los Angeles, Jessica DeCanio demonstrates how claims adjusters use virtual reality to train for the field.
Meghan McCarty Carino/Marketplace
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Workplace Culture

Amazon's massive retraining investment includes nursing and aircraft mechanic degrees

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Jul 11, 2019
The company will prepare 100,000 workers for advances in automation — and for new ventures it's exploring.
Men work at a distribution station in the 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, in February.
Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images
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Automation's gender divide

by David Brancaccio
Jun 5, 2019
While both men and women have essentially the same odds of automation taking their jobs, women could face a tougher transition to new jobs.
A pharmacy technician prepares prescriptions for packaging and shipping after being filled on an automated line at the central pharmacy of Intermountain Heathcare in 2018 in Midvale, Utah.
George Frey/Getty Images
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