The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment

WINNER OF THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015

Artificial intelligence is already well on its way to making ‘good jobs' obsolete: many paralegals, doctors, and ironically even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by robots. As technology continues to accelerate and machines begin taking care of themselves, fewer jobs will be necessary. In terms of societal and economic upheaval, this is most important technological shift since the industrial revolution. And, unless we radically reassess the fundamentals of how our economy and politics work, we risk a future of massive unemployment and inequality as well as the implosion of the economy itself.

In Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford offers both an exploration of this new technology and a call to arms to face its implications. Ford's warning rings clearly: robots are coming, and we must decide – now – whether the future will see prosperity or catastrophe.