Boulder, Denver economies highly susceptible to disruption from artificial intelligence

Anyone who frequents fast-food restaurants will sooner or later run across a kiosk designed to replace a cashier. And on factory floors across the nation, robots are increasingly doing tasks once handled by humans. Artificial intelligence, which uses computers to handle mental tasks, could prove just as disruptive for white-collar workers in the years ahead, according to a new study from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. High-tech hubs like Boulder, and to a lesser degree metro Denver, are vulnerable economically to the changes coming from the widespread adoption of AI expected in the years ahead. "Well-paid, well-educated professionals are not immune from the disruptions of emerging technologies," said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.