Abstract
In today’s rapidly changing digital economy, driven by disruptive technologies and innovation, the means of automation have grown, so too have the number of applications and markets that demand these technologies. Indeed, the growth in artificial intelligence and machine learning, while transforming the workplace, also free up the need for human labor. The resulting revised landscape is impacting labor force patterns, employment, and inequality by creating new markets and business practices, new product infrastructure, and different labor skills. Against the backdrop of the debate on disruptive innovation as the key to socioeconomic transformation rather than disruption, this chapter interrogates how the growing automation of knowledge work is shaping development in Africa and how countries are embracing the revised landscape in all its facets—the threats, possibilities, and opportunities.
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Hanson, K.T. (2020). Automation of Knowledge Work and Africa’s Transformation Agenda: Threats, Opportunities, and Possibilities. In: Arthur, P., Hanson, K., Puplampu, K. (eds) Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Development in Africa. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40647-9_13
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