Robots assemble cars
Robots manufacture electric Volkswagens in Zwickau, Germany, on February 25, 2020.
  • Since the 1980s, automation has replaced middle-income workers with robots and software.
  • Automation has also made educated labor more valuable and contributed to income inequality.
  • Artificial intelligence could cheapen educated labor and reduce inequality.

Automation widened income inequality in the US. The latest developments in AI might just reverse it.