According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, "Employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 12% from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. These occupations are projected to add about 546,200 new jobs." We are at the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the physical, digital and biological worlds are merging in unprecedented forms and scale. Yet, despite the number of STEM jobs flourishing, less than a third (29.3%) of those employed in scientific research and development across the world in 2016 are women. Eurostat found that in 2020, of almost 73 million persons employed in science and technology in the EU, aged from 15 to 74, nearly 37.5 million were women (51.3%) and 35.5 million men (48.7%).

It's something most people use without realizing it. From phones to search engines, social media, and smart devices in homes -- each uses artificial intelligence technology. "When we have our conversational assistance in our homes and we're talking with one of these and we're asking what's the weather going to be like or what's the capital of Tanzania. Those are kind of questions that are easy to answer," said North Carolina State University Distinguished Professor James Lester. Lester is also the Director of the Center for Educational Informatics where they conduct research on AI technologies for education.

Over this summer, I've noticed an even greater focus on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it might impact education and work in the future. After attending ISTE 2019 in Philadelphia, several edtech startups caught my attention because of the mention of AI. After doing some research, I came across a few other AI tools beginning to gain ground in classrooms. There is so much information out there that finding time to explore it all can be a challenge. To make it easier, I signed up to receive Google alerts about cutting edge and emerging trends with AI.

Veronica is a senior editor for The Economist Intelligence Unit's thought leadership division in New York. She specialises in market environment topics and trends that cut across industries, including the future of work, technological disruption, and economic competitiveness. In addition to these areas, she has led projects on advancements in manufacturing, historic energy demand trends, and socioeconomic topics such as organised labour, post-war impact investing and growth of cities. Until July 2014 Veronica was the EIU's commerce and regulations analyst for 29 countries, mostly in the emerging markets. She has written for various EIU publications, on subjects such as financial inclusion, international trade, and policies aimed at attracting investment and promoting innovation. Veronica holds master's and bachelor's degrees in international relations from New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

Recent research in natural language processing using the program word2vec gives manipulations of word representations that look a lot like semantics produced by vector math. For vector calculations to produce semantics would be remarkable, indeed. The word vectors are drawn from context, big, huge context. And, at least roughly, the meaning of a word is its use (in context). Is it possible some question is begged here?

This week at school we've been brainstorming and discussing qualities we want to see in our graduates as they leave our school and enter the wider world of college and work. Today among many other questions, I was thinking about automation and the ways we need students to develop computational thinking skills so they can effectively utilize mind-blowingly powerful AI's (artificial intelligence bots) to collaborate with others and solve problems. As I gaze into the palantir afforded me as a co-host of "The EdTech Situation Room" each week with Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), this is part of the future I see for our students, our society, and ourselves in the coming decades. This 98 second video, which I titled "EdTech Situation Room Promo Trailer," is the result of my thinking about this question tonight. Spoiler: The video offers more questions than answers, and as an answer suggests you need to follow @edtechSR on Twitter and subscribe to our weekly webshow and podcast on YouTube and on edtechSR.com! This question of what an emerging "artificial intelligence first" rather than "mobile first" worldview (which Google announced at Google IO 2017) should mean for schools is something I discussed on The EdTech Situation Room back on May 17, 2017, with Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff).

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are ushering in the rise of smart machines that will be able to carry out many of the complex cognitive tasks that once seemed exclusive to middle class work in the knowledge economy. Already, doctors are using deeper learning to help diagnose illnesses, entry-level lawyers are finding themselves out-analyzed by machines that can harvest case history faster than any human, artificial intelligence is writing news stories and robots are staffing restaurants. This is just the beginning: one Oxford University study suggests that as many as 47% of current middle-class American jobs could get displaced or change significantly over the next two decades due to automation.