
Tech & Society
Your Coworkers Aren’t Human: Confronting the Fear of a White Collar AI Takeover
The new remote administrative assistant is a little too perky, hardworking, and efficient. Is it because he’s a bot?
Tech & Society
The new remote administrative assistant is a little too perky, hardworking, and efficient. Is it because he’s a bot?
Business
The ability to predict customer demand could make fast food even faster. The Mexican-themed Chipotle restaurant chain is testing AI tools that forecast demand, monitor ingredients, and ensure that workers fill orders correctly.
Culture
An online marketplace enables people to buy text prompts designed to produce consistent output from the new generation of text-to-image generators.
Tech & Society
Performing artists are taking action to protect their earning power against scene-stealing avatars. Equity, a union of UK performing artists, launched a campaign to pressure the government to prohibit unauthorized use of a performer’s AI-generated likeness.
Tech & Society
Most Americans don’t understand AI, according to a new survey. Only 16 percent of adults in the United States got a passing grade on a true-or-false questionnaire of AI’s capabilities and uses.
Business
Shoppers at Amazon’s newest grocery store can skip the checkout line. Amazon opened its first full-scale supermarket that monitors which items customers place in their cart and charges them automatically when they leave. It calls the system Just Walk Out.
Tech & Society
Amazon is monitoring its delivery drivers with in-vehicle cameras that alert supervisors to dangerous behavior. The online retail giant rolled out a ceiling-mounted surveillance system that flags drivers who, say, read texts, fail to use seatbelts, exceed the speed limit, or ignore a stop sign.
Tech & Society
Labor unions aim to give workers more protection against the automated systems that increasingly rule the workplace. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) launched a task force to lobby for collective bargaining, increased transparency, and legal protections related to AI in the workplace.
Business
Machines took another step toward doing the work of journalists. Microsoft laid off dozens of human editors who select articles for the MSN news service and app. Going forward, AI will do the job.
Tech & Society
Businesses around the world outsource their customer service work to the Philippines. Now the Philippines is preparing its workers to outsource some tasks to AI.
Tech & Society
Which countries are ahead in AI? Many, in one way or another, and not always the ones you might expect. The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence published its 2019 Artificial Intelligence Index, detailing when, where, and how AI is on the rise.
Tech & Society
Is there any reason to continue playing games that AI has mastered? Ask the former champions who have been toppled by machines.