The U.S. economy is on the precipice of an unrelenting wave of automation that will eliminate a massive number of jobs and destabilize our society, according to Democratic presidential primary candidate Andrew Yang and his growing throng of supporters. Indeed, this concern is shared by many policymakers who have turned a critical eye toward Silicon Valley, asking whether technological innovation is worth the effort. While some of these critiques are valid, even if overblown, in this heated environment, it is easy to lose sight of the real problem, which according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation is that automation isn’t happening fast enough, and achieving faster automation is an urgent societal imperative necessary to address less-than-stellar productivity growth. Both the public and private sectors need to modernize their IT infrastructure and consider how to leverage emerging data-driven technologies, like machine learning, robotic process automation and chatbots, to create strategic changes in how they produce value.
Read the full article in Government Technology.
Image: Gage Skidmore