People skills may count the most in a more automated world

Overall, automation may be more likely to change jobs than to destroy them. Get ready for a new career as an "empathy trainer", "explainability strategist," or perhaps as an "artificial intelligence safety engineer". As new technologies cut a swathe through traditional white collar jobs, these are some of the new roles that could rise up in their place, according to a new book by Accenture chief technology officer Paul Daugherty and fellow researcher Jim Wilson. It is a topsy-turvy world perhaps, where economic success is defined as ensuring there is enough work to keep everyone gainfully employed. But that hasn't stopped people through the ages fretting that new technology may leave us all paupers.