Definition: Automation is termed as “machinery that has sensing and control devices that enable it to operate automatically” (Stevenson, 2021).
Summary: The article chosen is written by Robert Wright who is a news reporter for the Financial Times. In this article, he discusses automation and how it has a growing impact in the business world. Wright gives us an example of automation in the workplace which is “the system — which has been trained to recognize residents’ questions by using machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence — presents Mr Radwell and other customer support officers with a series of potential, pre-written responses. Each is labelled with an estimated probability of its being the correct choice. If one is appropriate, Mr Radwell clicks on it, satisfying the resident far more quickly and easily than before” (2019). After giving this example, the author discusses throughout the article how automation can reduce menial tasks, but can also cost people their jobs. He ends this article by warning his readers that there will be a great percentage of jobs lost due to automation within the next ten years.