The strike is the latest effort to resist automation in defense of people’s jobs.

 

 

Read the article and decide if the sentences below are true or false:

https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/longshoremens-fight-against-automation-confronts-an-ai-future

 

1. The dockworkers’ strike is primarily about increasing wages.

2. The union is asking for a complete halt to automation at cargo ports.

3. Automation at ports could potentially reduce the number of accidents.

4. The text suggests that AI will definitely replace all office jobs in the future.

5. The longshoremen’s demand is similar to concerns raised in the entertainment industry.

6. The Luddite movement in England was about workers embracing new technology.

7. The text implies that AI could create new job opportunities in the transport sector.

 

 

Key: 1. F; 2. T; 3. T; 4. F; 5. T; 6. F; 7. T

 

Glossary

 

• to brace – to get ready for something difficult or unpleasant
• to hold hostage – to seek advantage in a situation by threatening the well-being or success of (a person or thing not directly involved in the situation)
• to shackle – to put shackles (chains) on 
• herein – in this
• fallible – capable of being mistaken; erring
• buffs – enthusiasts

 

Practice makes perfect

Five sentences have been removed from the text below.

Choose from the sentences a)-e) the one which fits each gap.

 

AI won’t replace humans but humans with AI will replace humans without AI.

I think there are two imperatives for most executives, for most managers, for most leaders. One is a learning imperative. (…).1. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. . The idea is not that we want you to become AI engineers or data scientists or get a Ph.D., but as executives, this is now table stakes.

The way I think about this at the MBA program for us, is that people come to the Harvard MBA program and we have a first year required curriculum. There are 10 courses and one of them is accounting. I can tell you, accounting is a very important profession, but most MBAs that join HBS don’t want to be accountants. 2. …………………………………………………………………………………………. . That’s the way in which you think about how value is kept track of, how expenses are tracked, and so on. Super important.

You don’t take the accounting course to become accountant, but you need to understand accounting so you can be a good business person. 3. ……………………………………………………………………………….. . You need to understand the machine learning stuff and the AI stuff, not because you’re going to become an AI engineer or an AI scientist, but because that is now going to be a critical table stakes for you to understand how business works.

There’s a learning imperative and I don’t think we can take away the learning imperative anymore. (…) I’m in the learning profession. So, I want to caveat that. But I want to just insist that the learning journey does not stop and 4. …………………………………………………………………, and I think companies need to invest in the learning for their own employees as well. It’s a two-phased conversation. Companies have to embrace this and so do individuals.

But the second bit is equally important, which is completely underrated: change and change management become skills for managers and for leaders and for executives. (…)

The best companies will be the ones that can understand how change becomes a skill. If you think about change as a skill, what does that mean? Skills require acquisition of the skills. You’ve got to invest in learning. What does it mean to change? It requires practice. You’ve got to keep changing as well. 5. ……………………………………….. .Those elements I think will become a key part of the ways in which leaders need to adapt to this world.

 

a) But they need to learn accounting because that’s the language of business.

b) you have to invest in your own personal learning

c) There’s lots of learning you need to do, and the learning has to be continuous.

d) And it requires adjustment.

e) Same thing now with digital technologies and machine learning.

 

In order to read the whole article, go to: https://hbr.org/2023/08/ai-wont-replace-humans-but-humans-with-ai-will-replace-humans-without-ai

Key: 1c; 2a; 3e); 4b); 5d)

 

Discuss

 

• What comes to mind when you think of ”automation”?
• Would you agree that ”Progress in technology threatens jobs”?
• How do you feel about changes (especially in your workplace)?
• Do you invest in your own personal learning?
• What implications might strikes have for the economy and society?

 

Watch and revise!

 

AI vs Dockworkers

The Automation Battle

 

https://www.cloud.worldwideschool.pl/index.php/s/EgYJ4ZYsBGjHiyr

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