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Talks

The Technology Trap | Carl Benedikt Frey | Talks at Google
46:29
Talks at Google

The Technology Trap | Carl Benedikt Frey | Talks at Google

Carl Benedikt Frey joined us in London to talk about his book ""The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation", and what history teaches us about how we might deal with the upcoming shift in working habits caused by the age of artificial intelligence. * About the book * From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends, Frey documents, broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. But Frey argues that this depends on how the short term is managed. In the nineteenth century, workers violently expressed their concerns over machines taking their jobs. The Luddite uprisings joined a long wave of machinery riots that swept across Europe and China. Today’s despairing middle class has not resorted to physical force, but their frustration has led to rising populism and the increasing fragmentation of society. As middle-class jobs continue to come under pressure, there’s no assurance that positive attitudes to technology will persist. The Industrial Revolution was a defining moment in history, but few grasped its enormous consequences at the time. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present. Get a copy of the book here: https://goo.gle/3194fgx
Labour Market and Automation – Joshua Gans, Martin Ford, & Carl Benedikt Frey #006
01:06:09
Rethinking Economics NL

Labour Market and Automation – Joshua Gans, Martin Ford, & Carl Benedikt Frey #006

The sixth interview of the series features Martin Ford (Futurist and Author), Carl Benedikt Frey (University of Oxford), & Joshua Gans (University of Toronto), who will discuss how technological progress has historically and is currently affecting our economy, especially focusing on the labour-market. Will this be different for the currently disruptive technologies, especially AI and robotics, and if so, how? How should we interpret predictions about future progress in AI, such as when we’ll have self-driving cars? What can we learn about history and models from how AI and robotics will change our economy and labour-market? What should we change in our economics education related to this topic? This interview was recorded on 10th of September 2020. All dates referring to “next year” refer to 2021. Our website with all previous interviews: https://www.rethinkingeconomics.nl/ai-lecture-series YouTube: https://youtu.be/MsKpQI8U69w Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rethinking-economics-nl Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/rethinking-podcast Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8zMWExZjZmNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rethinking-podcast/id1529734296?uo=4 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0NPRyHrhnoI6Ktb3ZH0WL8 Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/pm2w3wm2 RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/rethinking-podcast-WkRP0X Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1529734296/rethinking-podcast
The Great AI Game (Carl Benedikt Frey & Azeem Azhar) | DLD Summer
24:42
DLD Conference

The Great AI Game (Carl Benedikt Frey & Azeem Azhar) | DLD Summer

Speakers: Carl Benedikt Frey, Oxford Martin Citi Fellow, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University Azeem Azhar, Writer & Entrepreneur, Exponential View Don’t think about data as the new oil, Oxford economist Carl Benedikt Frey argues in his DLD Summer session with Azeem Azhar – because data alone doesn’t make you a leader in artificial intelligence. What’s really needed, he says, is making algorithms smarter, so that they understand in which context they’re operating. “There’s a risk of exaggerating China’s AI capabilities”, Frey says, and he sees “a real opportunity for Europe“ because “the AI race is in its early innings.” Azhar – publisher of the popular Exponential View newsletter – agrees that the current AI approach is limited. But “the reality is that very large models are working”, he says, which benefits technology giants and creates “an entire supply chain” of software and hardware around the dominant machine learning approach of neural networks trained on huge amounts of data. The DLD Conference channel features all talks held at past conferences and our digital format DLD Sync as well as the highlights of our events. For news, upcoming events and more interesting topics make sure to also visit: DLD Website: https://dld-conference.com DLD on Instagram: https://instagram.com/dldconference/ DLD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dldconference DLD on Facebook: https://facebook.com/DLDconference/
The Great Debate: Skills 4.0 - GMIS 2017 Day 2
29:21
GMIS: Global Manufacturing & Industrialisation Summit

The Great Debate: Skills 4.0 - GMIS 2017 Day 2

This panel was hosted by Axel Threlfall, Editor-at-Large at Reuters, and featured notable guests: -Dr. Carl Benedikt Frey, Co-Director and Oxford Martin Citi Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment, University of Oxford -David Hoey, Chief Executive O cer, WorldSkills International -Tod Laursen, President of Khalifa University Manufacturers of today must “upskill” their workers to prepare them for the jobs they will be doing 20 years from now, the summit heard, with concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) replacing labour described as ‘scaremongering’ by a leading academic. “If you go back to the first industrial revolution you will find not a single argument that is being raised in the contemporary debate that was not raised back then,” said Dr Benedikt Frey. Panellists agreed technology is advancing so fast that young people entering university today will be working with products that have not yet been invented and will have unimaginable opportunities. But Dr Benedikt Frey sounded a note of caution, saying that while technology may be moving fast, the implementation was not happening as fast as expected, citing similarities to the first industrial revolution, when it took nearly 100 years for the economic impact of widespread use of machines to be seen. He advised manufacturers to carefully study the occupational changes that are taking place in the market and try to plan ahead by upskilling the workers, so they will still be able to be usefully employed 20 years from now. For Laursen, artificial intelligence may not be as threatening to jobs as perceived wisdom suggests. He cited his experience of watching the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge as an example of how far the technology has to go in some areas, for example creating a robot to replace engineers and technicians in a maintenance environment, as teaching them to select the right tool and use it correctly is proving to be a challenge to robotics engineers. While Hoey was keen to emphasise the need for young people to consider roles thought ‘dirty’ by older generations, for example, welding, which now requires advanced technological skills, the importance of universities in teaching analytical skills that help adapt to change and acquire new skills was also cited.
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