Automation is set to have an impact far beyond the factory floor

Reporters called it the robot, but its physical presence was hardly felt. It was almost invisible, just a Microsoft Excel macro that could write a fairly detailed stock-market report that could then be edited and polished by a human journalist. But when Reuters introduced the robot to its newsroom in 2007 -- just before the financial crisis -- it was an early sign that manufacturing was not the only industry that automation was infiltrating. White-collar workers in fields like journalism, finance, medicine, and law are seeing an increasing use of machines, but one much less damaging to workers' job prospects. Unlike in manufacturing, where machines can take over entire factory floors in a physical, almost menacing way, machine learning and artificial intelligence so far are playing fairly benign roles in the professional world.