By Phonlamai Photo @ Shutterstock.com
The FT reports here that a new wave of automated artificial intelligence software is replacing routine office work now done by people. Forrester Research estimates that 4 Million office employees are likely to have their jobs taken over by such software over the next five years.
“There are a lot of tedious processes that involve taking information from this place and entering into that place,” says Rich Wong, a partner at venture capital firm Accel, which led a $153m investment this week in UiPath, giving the company founded in Bucharest and now headquartered in New York a valuation of $1.1bn.
The rise of the bots promises to bring sweeping changes for cubicle dwellers. Some 4m of these people in the US are likely to see their jobs taken over by the end of 2021, says Craig Le Clair, an analyst at Forrester Research. Each bot can handle the work it would take three or four full-time workers to perform, he says. And at $8,000-$9,000 a year in licensing costs, they are a lot cheaper.
If you are in a job that is a risk of being replaced by a sophisticated computer algorithm hoping that you won’t be impacted isn’t a strategy. Technology will not slow down for you. It won’t wait until you have enough money saved for retirement or until your emergency reserve is big enough. You have to be prepared today and if you aren’t prepared, get moving.
Your greatest asset is your ability to adapt and evolve. Never stop learning new things, reading new material, or thinking in new ways.
Jeremy Jones, CFA
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