In this editorial, we take a look at a post-pandemic dystopia where AI and robotics engulf the flow of labour, talent and the economy. These are our forecasts of an economy optimised by artificial intelligence and ripened by robotics. Robots' infiltration of the workforce doesn't occur at a steady, gradual pace. Instead, automation happens in bursts, concentrated especially in bad times such as the current Covid 19-induced economic paralysis, when humans become relatively more expensive as firms' revenues rapidly decline. At these moments, employers shed less-skilled workers and replace them with technology and higher-skilled workers, which increases labor productivity as a recession tapers off.