The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn't stopping execs from pushing forward anyway. Late last month, at an event in Washington, D.C., Andrew Yang delivered a bleak message. "I have bad news, America," he told the crowd. The Fuckening is the name that Yang, a former presidential candidate, has given to AI's disembowelment of the workforce. As he sees it, millions of knowledge workers will soon lose their job, personal-bankruptcy rates will spike, and entire downtowns will turn vacant as offices hollow out.

Is A.I. Actually a Bubble? The narrative of boom and bust is familiar--but also out of step with the possibilities of a new technology. Over the past few months, I've introduced artificial intelligence into the hobby life of my seven-year-old son, Peter. On Saturdays, he takes a coding class, in which he recently made a version of rock-paper-scissors, and he really wants to make more sophisticated games at home. I gave ChatGPT and Claude a sense of his skill level, and they instantaneously suggested next steps. Claude proposed trying to recreate Pong in Scratch, a coding environment for kids.

The wait is over: artificial intelligence (AI) is here. And despite apocalyptic predictions about workers being replaced by intelligent machines, leading organizations are taking a new tack: actively searching for strategies to integrate AI into teams to produce transformative business results. These "superteams" hold the promise of enabling organizations to reinvent themselves to create new value and meaning, while giving workers the potential to reinvent their careers in ways that help increase their value to the organization and their own employability. For organizations that still view AI mainly as an automation tool to reduce costs, connecting their AI initiatives with their efforts to craft more effective teams is a first step toward enabling humans and machines to work together in new, more productive ways. The Readiness Gap: Fifty-nine percent of organizations say the redesign of jobs to integrate AI technology is important or very important for their success over the next 12 to 18 months, but only 7 percent say they are very ready to address this trend.

In 2012, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Marc Andreesen predicted that jobs will be divided between "people who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do." Already, smartphones and other internet-connected devices assign work in a wide variety of environments, from Amazon warehouses to city streets. Workers that take assignments from computers may see their jobs completely automated as artificial intelligence and robots become more capable over time. However, these same devices also have the potential to train workers in new skills and ride out successive waves of automation. Skills training typically comes through higher education or from companies themselves.

Ken Bowman is a fan of automation. But as president of KVP International, a Chino-based company that manufactures products for the veterinary industry, he's harnessing the technology to boost efficiency -- not replace employees. KVP makes everything from custom leg braces and splints for dogs, cats, rodents and birds, to pet catheters and plastic recovery collars that prevent pets from scratching or biting injured areas. Speaking at a recent Technolink Association event in Pasadena, Bowman said his company has experienced significant growth. But changes were needed to sustain the momentum.

The three new concept robots from LG Electronics are aimed at the services industry, in areas like hotels, airports and supermarkets. Here come our new robot overlords. A Korean tech giant has announced three new robots that take aim at the vast and fast-growing global service industry sector. Technologists and economists have long predicted that artificial intelligence and automation would one day sync up to eliminate millions of mostly low-wage jobs in the future. South Korea's LG Electronics is planning to sell robots to solve tasks currently completed by humans.

New robots designed to replace workers in airports, hotels and supermarkets have been announced by LG Electronics. The firm is showcasing a trio of robots designed to carry your suitcase, shopping and drinks at the global Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week. Tech companies are racing to create automated machines capable of carrying out service industry tasks, threatening the jobs of up to 800 million workers worldwide. Each of LG's three new robots is bin-shaped, shorter than a human, and moves via a hidden set of wheels at its base. One of the machines is designed to serve drinks and food (left), while another hauls luggage (centre).

For many years, the American public thought of artificial intelligence, or AI, as some big, incredibly complex computer program that would one day achieve sentience and turn on humanity like a James Cameron conceived summer blockbuster. While movie franchises starring angry AI creations turning on their creators continue to do well at the box office, artificial intelligence has made its way into the modern American household. From algorithms on Amazon that suggest what we might want to read next to Siri and Alexa answering our questions to cars that understand traffic patterns and very soon might be driving us to work, artificial intelligence is rapidly disrupting industries. While there has been a great fear for a number of years that robots will replace workers across industries, this has largely not been born out. While robots powered by AI can often replace workers at some of the most menial, automated tasks in a factory, workers are often needed in more specialized capacities to repair, maintain, and respond to alarms that these robotic workers generate.

Driscoll's is so secretive about its robotic strawberry picker it won't let photographers within telephoto range of it. But if you do get a peek, you won't see anything humanoid or space-aged. AgroBot is still more John Deere than C-3PO -- a boxy contraption moving in fits and starts, with its computer-driven sensors, graspers and cutters missing 1 in 3 berries. Such has been the progress of ag-tech in California, where despite the adoption of drones, iPhone apps and satellite-driven sensors, the hand and knife still harvest the bulk of more than 200 crops. Now, the $47-billion agriculture industry is trying to bring technological innovation up to warp speed before it runs out of low-wage immigrant workers.

Driscoll's is so secretive about its robotic strawberry picker it won't let photographers within telephoto range of it. But if you do get a peek, you won't see anything humanoid or space-aged. AgroBot is still more John Deere than C-3PO -- a boxy contraption moving in fits and starts, with its computer-driven sensors, graspers and cutters missing 1 in 3 berries. Such has been the progress of ag-tech in California, where despite the adoption of drones, iPhone apps and satellite-driven sensors, the hand and knife still harvest the bulk of more than 200 crops. Now, the $47-billion agriculture industry is trying to bring technological innovation up to warp speed before it runs out of low-wage immigrant workers.