Roy Bahat

I, Worker: Employment in the Age of Robots

Caroline Fairchild, Roy Bahat, Jacqui Canney, Aaron Levie, Anne-Marie Slaughter

A panel of experts convened to analyze the impending demographic shift where the workforce over 55 will double, debating whether automation will replicate the industrial revolution's upheaval or create new value in sectors like healthcare and education. While Walmart's $2.7 billion training initiative illustrates corporate adaptation, the discussion highlighted significant barriers for displaced workers, including skills mismatches and the failure of traditional job creation models to keep pace with retail losses. Ultimately, the consensus emphasized that addressing this crisis requires coordinated government, educational, and business action to foster high-touch roles and continuous certification, rejecting universal basic income as a primary solution for economic mobility.