Opinion
COVID-19 will accelerate automation, and we must embrace it
By Joël Blit October 26, 2020
The pandemic will accelerate automation for two main reasons: recessions beget innovation, and the health crisis incentivizes digitization.
The robots are taking over. COVID’s impact on automation and reallocation cannot be avoided and in fact should be actively encouraged since it is the only way to ensure that Canada emerges stronger from this crisis, writes Joël Blit. Image courtesy of Pixabay
WATERLOO—Over the last decade, the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence has emerged as a critical topic of discussion. By some estimates, almost half of existing jobs could be automated within a generation. Not surprisingly, then, managing this future of work has become a primary concern among the public and policy-makers alike. In 2018, under its presidency of the G7, Canada advanced “preparing for jobs of the future” as one of five key themes. Later that same year, the future of work also became one of three agenda priorities at the G20 meetings.
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