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Rethinking AI’s impact: Study reveals economic limits to job automation

The study, authored by five MIT researchers and titled Beyond AI Exposure, delves deep into the practicalities of replacing human labor with AI in the US, focusing on tasks that lend themselves to computer vision, such as those performed by teachers, property appraisers, and bakers.


Like many of us, you might find yourself nodding to a familiar digital doomsday chorus that vibrates through offices and coffee shops alike: AI will take my job!

Is this looming threat substantiated, or simply a manifestation of our shared anxiety in the wake of constant technological advancement? A new study from MIT CSAIL, MIT Sloan, The Productivity Institute, and IBM’s Institute for Business Value is set to challenge our long-held beliefs.

Their research critically examines the economic practicality of using AI for automating tasks in the workplace, with a specific emphasis on computer vision.

Practical challenges for precision medicine

MachineLearning clinical prediction models fail to generalize across trial data, a new Science study finds. The results “require reexamination of the practical challenges that precision medicine is facing.” Learn more in a new Science Perspective:


The prediction of individual treatment responses with machine learning faces hurdles.

Frederike H. Petzschner [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations

Science.

Oops! Replacing Workers With AI Is Actually More Expensive, MIT Finds

A team of MIT researchers has found that in many instances, replacing human workers with AI is still more expensive than sticking with the people, a conclusion that flies in the face of current fears over the technology taking our jobs.

As detailed in a new paper, the team examined the cost-effectiveness of 1,000 “visual inspection” tasks across 800 occupations, such as inspecting food to see whether it’s gone bad. They discovered that just 23 percent of workers’ total wages “would be attractive to automate,” mainly because of the “large upfront costs of AI systems” — and that’s if the automatable tasks could even “be separated from other parts” of the jobs.

That said, they admit, those economics may well change over time.

Google makes breakthrough in one of the hardest tests for AI

Google Deepmind says that a new artificial intelligence system has made a major breakthrough in one of the most difficult tests for AI.

The company says that it has created a new AI system that can solve geometry problems at the level of the very top high-school students.

Geometry is one of the oldest branches of mathematics, but has proven particularly difficult for AI systems to work with. It has been difficult to train them because of a lack of data, and succeeding requires building a system that can take on difficult logical challenges.

Robotic Breakthrough Mimics Human Walking Efficiency

The article repeats itself a bit but there’s some good parts about an exoskeleton, advanced algorithm and bipedal robots and prosthetics. It’ll basically apply to those future industries.


We typically don’t think about it whilst doing it, but walking is a complicated task. Controlled by our nervous system, our bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues (i.e., the musculoskeletal system) must move in coordination and respond to unexpected changes or disturbances at varying speeds in a highly efficient manner. Replicating this in robotic technologies is no small feat.

Now, a research group from Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering has replicated human-like variable speed walking using a musculoskeletal model – one steered by a reflex control method reflective of the human nervous system. This breakthrough in biomechanics and robotics sets a new benchmark in understanding human movement and paves the way for innovative robotic technologies.

Experts Terrified by Mark Zuckerberg’s Human-Tier AI Plans

Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he’s going to purchase hundreds of thousands of expensive AI processing chips — and experts are mighty worried about what he plans to use them for.

In the same Instagram post announcing his planned purchase of 350,000 Nvidia’s H100 graphics chips, which average about $30,000 apiece and are considered the gold standard for powering AI models, Zuckerberg said that he wants to build an open-source artificial AGI, the industry term for the point at which AI reaches or even surpasses human-level intelligence.

While there’s still an open debate about whether AGI is even possible, the prospect itself is enough to give some researchers pause.

How human robot collaboration will affect the manufacturing industry

How human-robot collaboration will affect the manufacturing industry — https://bit.ly/3S7Skfa


By Nitin Rawat, Manufacturing Head, Addverb

Robotics are employed to boost production and efficiency in the manufacturing sector, and they are capable of working in any hazardous setting. Robotic arms are also employed to perform effective work in the industries. It has been years since the introduction of collaborative robots in the manufacturing industry, and they have now been applied in several applications at manufacturing facilities. Robots these days are exceptionally programmable and controllable, allowing them to perform complex tasks using AI and automation.

Robot applications in manufacturing include assembly, welding, shipping, handling raw materials, and product packing. Robots nowadays collaborate with human workers (co-bots) on practically every task. In manufacturing, robotics is used to automate repetitive activities and streamline assembly workflows. Many industries are now using robots for hazardous and time-consuming tasks that can endanger workers.

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