The Hidden Automation Agenda of the Davos Elite

All over the world, executives are spending billions of dollars to transform their businesses into lean, digitized, highly automated operations. They crave the fat profit margins automation can deliver, and they see A.I. as a golden ticket to savings, perhaps by letting them whittle departments with thousands of workers down to just a few dozen. "People are looking to achieve very big numbers," said Mohit Joshi, the president of Infosys, a technology and consulting firm that helps other businesses automate their operations. "Earlier they had incremental, 5 to 10 percent goals in reducing their work force. Now they're saying, 'Why can't we do it with 1 percent of the people we have?'"