Automation in the 4IR is AI-enabled. Algorithms drive automation in the 4IR.

AI-driven automation, which characterises the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is unique in its impacts on jobs and society. Conventional automation largely affected manual tasks (that require physical labour). Yet algorithms that drive AI technology make it possible to automate a wide range of cognitive tasks which require workers to mentally process, such as processing information and rational decision-making.

Another difference is that the adoption of AI is taking place at a faster pace compared to the uptake of technologies in prior industrial revolutions. Unlike past general-purpose technologies where technology transfer occurred at a snail’s pace, algorithms, which are the engines of AI-driven technologies, can be distributed at no cost. Once shared, algorithms can be tweaked and improved for free.