If you thought the battle between machines and jobs – the dislocation of labor and society resulting from digitization or automation – has been one-sided so far, just wait. The next wave of attack is well underway, and it's called AI. Artificial Intelligence, most simply, refers to computers that perform tasks that normally require human intelligence – things like visual perception, speech recognition, even decision-making. Earlier this year the management consulting firm McKinsey famously wrote that "25 percent of the global workforce will either need to find new professional activities by 2020 or significantly broaden their technological skills. The World Economic Forum's "Future of Jobs Report: 2018" states, "By 2022, the skills required to perform most jobs will have shifted significantly… [and] no less than 54% of all employees will require significant re- and upskilling." The greatest concerns are not just that AI destroys jobs, but that it increases inequality – that low-wage employees get displaced, while high-wage employees maintain or even extend their value that's more difficult to replace with a machine. Of course, new technologies have disrupted existing processes for centuries. Will the experience with AI be different than with previous technologies? Most importantly, what can governments, corporations, small businesses and individual workers do to not just avoid massive disruption, but rather position themselves to take outsized advantage of the opportunities? To find out, I recently hosted an excellent roundtable discussion at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice with NYU Professor Robert Seamans. Prof. Seamans' studies how technology and governance structures affect strategic interactions between firms, affect incentives to innovate, and ultimately shape market outcomes. Previously he served under President Obama as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Artificial intelligence is currently a white-hot buzzword in healthcare. Both in everyday conversations and in large context settings like HIMSS, the term is guaranteed to generate interest. But what can it actually achieve in the world of healthcare? This question will be a topic of discussion at the upcoming MedCity INVEST conference in Chicago. IDx chairman and CEO Gary Seamans, who will be speaking at the event, commented on the popular nature of the technology.

Nigerian health officials won't have to rely on flawed, decade-old census data when they plan deliveries of the measles vaccine next year. Instead, they will have access to what may be the most detailed and up-to-date population map ever produced for a developing country. Created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, and delivered to Nigerian officials on May 1, the map is based on a detailed analysis of buildings in satellite imagery and more than 2,000 on-the-ground neighbourhood surveys. It is one of several projects that are leveraging remote-sensing data and modern computer-learning algorithms to chart human settlements around the globe with unprecedented precision. Researchers hope that these data will enable better management of public health, infrastructure and natural resources--and improve planning for emergencies.

In our fourth installment of the Bytes Chat, we convened a panel of economists to discuss the newly released NBER study on the impact of robots on jobs and wages. Bytes contributors Rob Seamans, associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, Bret Swanson, president of Entropy Economics, and Hal Singer, senior fellow at George Washington University's Institute of Public Policy were joined by special guest Marshall Steinbaum, senior economist and fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. The conversation has been edited slightly for readability. First question is at the behest of our president. Are the robots coming over the border? Is this a border problem? Marshall Steinbaum: If you get all the enemies in one place, it's easier to kill them. Singer: Ok, let's get serious.