Video: View Machines in Workforce as Teammates, Not Threats

Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research

As machines take on more jobs, many find themselves out of work or with raises indefinitely postponed. Is this the end of growth?

No, says Erik Brynjolfsson — it’s simply the growing pains of a radically reorganized economy. A riveting case for why big innovations are ahead of us … if we think of computers as our teammates. Be sure to watch the opposing viewpoint from Robert Gordon.

Erik Brynjolfsson examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and employment.

— Erik Brynjolfsson is the director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Erik Brynjolfsson asks how IT affects organizations, markets and the economy. His recent work studies data-driven decision-making, management practices that drive productivity, the pricing implications of Internet commerce and the role of intangible assets. Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure the productivity contributions of information and community technology (ICT) and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. His research also provided the first quantification of the value of online product variety, often known as the “Long Tail,” and developed pricing and bundling models for information goods.