The number of American workers who quit their jobs during the pandemic--over a fifth of the workforce--may constitute one of the largest American labor movements in recent history. Workers demanded higher pay and better conditions, spurred by rising inflation and the pandemic realization that employers expected them to risk their lives for low wages, mediocre benefits, and few protections from abusive customers--often while corporate stock prices soared. At the same time, automation has become cheaper and smarter than ever. Robot adoption hit record highs in 2021. This wasn't a surprise, given prior trends in robotics, but it was likely accelerated by pandemic-related worker shortages and Covid-19 safety requirements.

BERLIN – German industrial robot-maker Hahn Automation plans to invest millions of euros in new factories in China over the next three years, keen to capitalize on an economy that's rebounding more rapidly than others from the COVID-19 crisis. "If we want to grow with the Chinese market, we have to manufacture on the ground," Chief Executive Frank Konrad said of the investment drive, intended to skirt Chinese export hurdles in what Beijing views as a strategic sector. "Our goal is to make up to 25% of our sales in China by 2025," he said, up from roughly 10% now. But while the Chinese recovery may be good news for companies like Hahn, it is complicating efforts by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to diversify trade relations and become less dependent on Asia's rising superpower. Despite Berlin's concerns, German industry is deepening ties with China, which battled the pandemic with stricter measures than other countries, moved out of a first lockdown earlier and saw demand rebound more quickly. Olaf Kiesewetter, CEO of car sensor supplier UST in Thuringia in eastern Germany, shares the same ambition of making 25% of sales in China.

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - German business software giant SAP published Tuesday an ethics code to govern its research into artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to prevent the technology infringing on people's rights, displacing workers or inheriting biases from its human designers. "SAP designed these guiding principles to steer the development and deployment of our AI software to help the world run better and improve people's lives," the firm said in a statement. Following in the footsteps of better-known US tech giants like Google and Microsoft, SAP -- which makes software for some 400,000 firms worldwide to manage data on customer relationships, payrolls or inventory -- is wrestling with how to impose values on AI's systems of algorithms designed to ape certain aspects of human intelligence. Public figures like entrepreneur Elon Musk or physicist Stephen Hawking have warned of the dangers of out-of-control AI. "The danger of AI is much greater than the danger of nuclear warheads by a lot," Musk said at a technology conference earlier this year. But rather than a scenario like those depicted in modern classics like "The Terminator" or "The Matrix" of computer programmes running amok over their human creators, SAP's concerns are closer to home.

These German firms are pursuing exciting new developments in artificial intelligence that will change how we live. Even Silicon Valley is taking note. Silicon Valley is widely seen as the epicenter of pioneering development in artificial intelligence. These German firms, while not as generously funded, are also making great strides. Google and IBM are investing huge sums in autonomous cars and smart virtual assistants.