Robohub.org
 

Andrew McAfee TED Talk on robots and jobs


by
24 September 2012



share this:

Andrew McAfee is principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management and the the author of Enterprise 2.0 and the co-author, with Erik Brynjolfsson, of Race Against The Machine. In this TED talk, he gives us his take on the impact of robotics on jobs from the point of view of a digital optimist.

To summarize, here is a quote taken from the end of the talk:

The droids are taking our jobs, but focussing on that fact misses the point entirely. The point is that then we are freed up to do other things, and what we’re going to do, I am very confident, is reduce poverty, and drudgery and misery around the world. I’m very confident we’re going to learn to live more lightly on the planet and I am extremely confident that what we’re going to do with our new digital tools is going to be so profound, and so beneficial, that it’s going to make a mockery of everything that came before.




Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Sabine Hauert is President of Robohub and Associate Professor at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory





Related posts :



Robot Talk at the Smart City Robotics Competition

  22 Oct 2025
In a special bonus episode of the podcast, Claire chatted to competitors, exhibitors, and attendees at the Smart City Robotics Competition in Milton Keynes.

Robot Talk Episode 129 – Automating museum experiments, with Yuen Ting Chan

  17 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Yuen Ting Chan from Natural History Museum about using robots to automate molecular biology experiments.

What’s coming up at #IROS2025?

  15 Oct 2025
Find out what the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems has in store.

From sea to space, this robot is on a roll

  13 Oct 2025
Graduate students in the aptly named "RAD Lab" are working to improve RoboBall, the robot in an airbag.

Robot Talk Episode 128 – Making microrobots move, with Ali K. Hoshiar

  10 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Ali K. Hoshiar from University of Essex about how microrobots move and work together.

Interview with Zahra Ghorrati: developing frameworks for human activity recognition using wearable sensors

and   08 Oct 2025
Zahra tells us more about her research on wearable technology.

Women in robotics you need to know about 2025

  06 Oct 2025
This global list celebrates women's impact across the robotics ecosystem and globe.

Robot Talk Episode 127 – Robots exploring other planets, with Frances Zhu

  03 Oct 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Frances Zhu from the Colorado School of Mines about intelligent robotic systems for space exploration.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence