Communications of the ACM
Software Robots Gaining Ground in White-Collar Office World
The pandemic has ramped up demand for automation. With wages rising fast, workers in short supply and near-record job vacancies, U.S. businesses are racing to automate as much as they can.
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Software is making inroads into white-collar professions due to innovations enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning, fueled by pandemic-surging demand.
Startups are making such solutions available to small companies as well as corporate giants; Kizen, for example, sells licenses to use its Zoe automated assistant, which sales teams can use to conduct initial research and qualify leads.
Old-school automation also remains popular, with the Association for Advancing Automation estimating a record number of robots sold in North America in the first quarter of this year.
This trend is seen as both positive and negative, with advocates believing task automation will free up employees for more challenging work, while skeptics are concerned about automation taking over some occupations that leave displaced workers without obvious alternatives.
From Bloomberg
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