Automation software is beginning to
take jobs from employees in finance. When software first started coming out,
the takeover began with lower-paid clerks. Now, though, it has moved on to
research and analysis. Software like Kensho has become capable of sifting
through enormous data sets far more quickly and reliably than humans ever
could. Daniel Nadler, the developer of Kensho, believes that soon,
sophisticated interfaces will mean that clients no longer will need or even
want to work with another human being. Kensho is widely used by Goldman Sachs,
and job losses have already been seen at this high-status company. This scares
many who believe that if jobs can be displaced at Goldman, they can probably be
displaced even more quickly at other, less sophisticated companies, within the
financial industry as well as without.
Software, like Kensho, is
increasingly doing the work that has been the province of educated people
sitting in desk chairs. The vulnerability of these jobs is partially due to the
availability and declining price of computing power, as well as the steady rise
of “machine learning” software that gathers and assimilates new information on
its own.
Employment prospects vary by
industry. In health care, human interaction is seen as necessary so automation
threatens fewer jobs there. Finance, though, has more jobs at high risk of
automation than any skilled industry due to it being built on processing
information.
It is incredible to see how far technology has come in such a short period of time. It seems that automated systems / software are becoming more and more popular. I do agree with what Skye said regarding human interaction, and that there are some industries that will always require a human presence. Car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has recently decided to swap some of their robots for more humans as the robots cannot adapt quickly enough to change. They believe that a skilled worker can adapt to a change in the car within a couple of days. Meanwhile, it takes robots weeks to be reprogrammed in order to adapt to the cars customization. These advancements in technology are great for society but can also seem rather threatening.
ReplyDeleteI see two sides to this: while technology is taking people's jobs, it also improves efficiency, if done well. I guess it depends on what is the better alternative, loss of jobs or more money going to big corporations that can afford the technology.
ReplyDeleteEfficiency is important at the end of the day. Could this have the potential to increase jobs in IT and computer sciences though? It will be interesting to see if the work force will make that shift soon.
ReplyDeleteFor once I agree with Greyson. I think the question he posed is the right one to ask! Hopefully this change over, will spur only a job shift in the global economy. That is to say, hopefully the job displacement will be matched with growth in the computer sciences and tech. fields within the industry. My intuition is optimistic, hopefully this will only lead to a more efficient industry. Though I acknowledge that this is an emotionally charged opinion. I would also like to note that this is a very insightful article and possibly the best one I’ve seen on this blog thus far. Finally I would like to draw attention to the above statement “I guess it depends on what is the better alternative, loss of jobs or more money going to big corporations that can afford the technology.” Which I think is unfortunately a one sided comment. The word “better” is quite a polarized word. What I am getting at here is, that the word “better,” eludes that there is a morality in the corporation. Unfortunately, the corporation only does what is best for them not taking into account the individual. Isn’t it apparent what is best for the corporation?
DeleteI think this idea is a little frightening because if robots continue to take service jobs instead of manufacturing it will particularly hurt jobs in the U.S. because of it's service-based economy. However, it is hard to argue against them because things like robots raise TFP in the Solow Model and if we start to protest these things it is possible our economic growth will start to stagnate.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is always increasing and hearing this kind of software come about is no surprise. It's very interesting to see Goldman Sachs, one of the most prestigious companies in the industry, letting workers go for the more efficient Kensho software. This article scares me as well, technology is very unpredictable and who knows what the financial job market will look like in near future.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of software taking jobs in the lucrative field of finance is scary. This kind of software could displace many people from their jobs. On the other hand, this software will benefit just about everyone else because it will do a better job of interpreting data than a human can. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the post above. for the people in the finance field this technology is not a good thing cause this could hurt their chances of getting a job or keeping their current one, but for all the others it will mean that our money will be managed more efficiently and hopefully less errors will happen. so I guess it all depends on what side you are on.
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