Automation is the act of replacing human labor with machine labor for an ever-increasing number of tasks. This is not a “fourth industrial revolution.” This is the unyielding advancement of machine labor.

Not all technology is machine labor. Most investments over the past 50 years have gone into digital infrastructure. We are only beginning to build the machine labor.

Artificial intelligence and human intelligence are different in many ways, but both are systems for finding patterns in data. Machines need not achieve human-level intelligence to replicate the capabilities of humanity.

Artificial intelligence capabilities grow exponentially and are not always enhanced by human involvement. The present can tell us little about the future, and the rise of AI has significant implications for workplaces and our roles within them.

Artificial intelligence looks more like labor than capital. Machines are unlikely to push humans out of the workforce, but there is no guarantee that the jobs of tomorrow will be better than the jobs of today.

Traditional companies are struggling to make the economics of automation work. Fears of mass unemployment due to profit-maximizing layoffs are probably overblown. The more significant risk is that traditional organizations employing millions of humans become increasingly irrelevant.

Replacing human labor with machine labor is complicated and expensive. It is often better to start from scratch. Smaller companies built on a foundation of machine labor may be less vulnerable to AI disruption than traditional enterprises.

The line between humans and machines blurs over time. Machines are becoming more like us, and we are becoming more like them. Convergence adds fuel to the automation fire while offering a potential lifeline in the race against AI.