The Rise of the Robots

Winner of Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015.If a 'robot' could do your job quicker than you and better than you for no pay, would you still be employed? Today it's travel agents, data-analyst and paralegals whose jobs are under threat. Soon it will be doctors, taxi-drivers and, ironically, even computer programmers.Without a radical reassessment of our economic and political structures, we risk the implosion of the capitalist economy itself. In a frightening tour of artificial intelligence's rapid advances, technology expert Martin Ford draws on a wealth of economic data from both the US and the UK to outline the terrifying societal implications of the robots' rise. From health and education to finance and technology, his warning is stark: any job that is on some level routine is likely to be automated and if we are to see a future of prosperity rather than catastrophe we must act now. 'Well researched and disturbingly persuasive.' - The Financial Times   'Everyone concerned with the future of work must read this book.' - Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick   'The Rise of the Robots is about as scary as the title suggests. It's not science fiction, but rather a vision (almost) of economic Armageddon.' - Frank Bruni, The New York Times   'A fascinating journey into the near future world of unemployment. Ford issues a stark warning that automation in the form of robotics is moving beyond the menial jobs to put the rest of us out of work. Read it now before it is too late.' - Noel Sharkey, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, University of Sheffield   'As Martin Ford documents in The Rise of the Robots, the job-eating maw of technology now threatens even the nimblest and most expensively educated...the human consequences of robotization are already upon us, and skillfully chronicled here.' - New York Times Book Review   'Compelling and well-written... In his conception, the answer is a combination of short-term policies and longer-term initiatives, one of which is a radical idea that may gain some purchase among gloomier techno-profits: a guaranteed income for all citizens. If that stirs up controversy, that's the point. The book is both lucid and bold, and certainly a starting point for robust debate about the future of all workers in an age of advancing robotics and looming artificial intelligence systems.' - ZDNet   'In The Rise of the Robots, Ford coolly and clearly considers what work is under threat from automation.' - New Scientist'Speaks with special credibility, insight, and verve. Business people, policy makers, and professionals of all sorts should read this book right away-before the 'bots steal their jobs.' - Kenneth Cukier, Data Editor for The Economist   'An alarming new book.' - Esquire