Hey, Robots, You Can Do the Filing

To some, this sounds like the beginning of humanity's end: Scientists race to create innovative robots while researchers build out artificial-intelligence platforms and complex algorithms that many fear could soon make our jobs obsolete. But some experts believe our forthcoming high-tech offspring could actually be a golden ticket for the good life. Just imagine island hopping in Croatia while a robot, equipped with image-recognition software and natural language-processing abilities, fills in for you at the office -- with periodic check-ins through your pair of virtual reality glasses. Sure, we might be getting ahead of ourselves here, though experts predict that high-tech gains across corporate America will make seemingly mundane jobs more interesting, while enriching our near future and making some jobs safer by getting into dangerous spots that humans just shouldn't be entering. A wave of technological advancement that let many of us do things faster -- and more safely -- with fewer workers assisted in these gains, and Sprague says this kind of productivity surge is "the economic factor that has the potential to lead to improved living standards for an economy."