Progress in computing and information technologies has been rapid in recent years, and the pace of change is expected to continue or even accelerate in the foreseeable future. These technologies create opportunities for new products, services, organizational processes, and business models, and potential for automating existing tasks—both cognitive and physical—and even whole occupations. At the same time, new job opportunities are expected to emerge as increasingly capable combinations of humans and machines attack problems that previously have been intractable. Advances in IT and automation will present opportunities to boost America’s overall income and wealth, improve health care, shorten the workweek, provide more job flexibility, enhance educational opportunities, develop new goods and services, and increase product safety and reliability. These same advances could also lead to growing inequality and decreased job stability, increasing demands on workers to change jobs, or major changes in business organization. More broadly, these technologies have important implications, both intended and unintended, in areas from education and social relationships to privacy, security, and even democracy. The ultimate effects of these technologies are not predetermined. Rather, like all tools, computing and information technologies can be used in different ways. The outcomes for the workforce and society at large depend in part on the choices we make about how to use these technologies. New data and research advances will be critical for informing these choices.
