NEW YORK: Technology took us out of our homes. It gave us a boss, office politics and an alarm clock - and it was awful. We got used to it; we made it work. Now technology might take those jobs away. But perhaps it will also restore the autonomy and flexibility that once defined work.
From when we were hunter gatherers, farmers, small scale artisans and then factory workers and office drones, technological innovation has altered the optimal work arrangement.
Artificial intelligence (AI) may be changing work again. We tend to assume change is bad, and transitions undoubtedly can be hard. Change is also often inevitable, challenging our imagination on what work can look like.
The AI optimists believe that machines will take all our jobs, but bots can create modern jobs, too, jobs that resemble a pre-industrial notion of work.