VentureBeat’s Bots Channel tracks the most important news and analysis from the exploding field of bots and messaging. Each week, we select the top stories and present them in our free weekly newsletter, BotBeat. We include news stories by VentureBeat staff, guest articles from leading figures in the bots community, and a good number of posts from a wide variety of other outlets. You can subscribe to our BotBeat newsletter to receive this information in your inbox every Thursday.
Here’s this week’s newsletter:
Job loss caused by technology and automation was an important topic during the recent U.S. presidential election, and one that is generating a bit of heat at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. While business leaders wrestle with social and economic costs versus increased productivity, whatever salve they come up with will do little for customer service and call center workers, among others, who might be replaced by chatbots and artificial intelligence. However, it was AI, specifically, and the jobs it might replace that won people’s attention at Davos.
During a panel discussion, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addressed the topic without offering specifics. “It’s not like we actually have economic growth today. So we actually need technological breakthrough, we need AI,” Nadella said, praising the potential for GDP growth and explaining that laid-off workers would need retraining.
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Rometty, however, acknowledged the worries of workers who fear AI. “There’s so much fear about jobs,” she said. “But most of us will be working with these systems.” She argued that waves of new technologies create waves of new jobs.
Alone, such talk means little and does nothing to assuage the fears of vulnerable workers. However, it does suggest at least an awareness of the disconnect between those who look at technology and see utopia, and those who see a threat to their existence. I suppose it will have to do as a first step.
As always, please send news tips to Khari Johnson and guest post submissions to John Brandon. Be sure to visit our Bots Channel for comprehensive news on bots, AI, and messaging.
Thanks for reading,
— Blaise Zerega
Editor in Chief
P.S. Please enjoy this video of IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussing artificial intelligence at Davos.
From the Bots Channel
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Betaworks launches Voicecamp startup accelerator around AI assistants and Alexa skills
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Beyond VB
How 5 brands have approached their Messenger chatbots
Facebook Messenger has been luring brands and developers to its platform to create bots for just about everything from acting as a concierge to doling out advice. But there is a lot of variation in something as straightforward as a question-and-answer format. Brands have taken different approaches when it comes to chatbots. (via Digiday)
London startup launches chatbot to help renters exercise their rights
London-based startup RentersUnion has created what it’s hoping will be a socially useful chatbot, pitching their web-based bot as a robot replacement for (expensive) housing lawyers. The intended user is anyone not on the London property ladder, and thus at the mercy of landlords, tenancy agreements and (apparently ever-inflating) rents. (via Techcrunch)
What’s the big journalism trend for 2017? Fear (oh, and voice news bots)
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s annual predictions report, released Wednesday, starts out a little bleak and doesn’t exactly let up: In 2017, “key developments will center on fears about how changing technology is affecting the quality of information and the state of our democracy.” (via Neiman Foundation)
Microsoft’s Nadella Warns Against ‘Hubris’ Amid AI Growth
Microsoft Corp. and its competitors should eschew artificial intelligence systems that replace people instead of maximizing their time, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in an interview Monday. (via Bloomberg)
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