Business Leaders at Davos Put Job Loss Blame on Technology
It’s not just stars and presidents, however, in fact it is supposed to be primarily about business with the majority of attendees being corporate executives such as Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook. Oh, and the parties, we mustn’t overlook those, despite the fact that nobody we have ever known would even know somebody who was invited. NY Times reporters Michael J. de la Merced and Russell Goldman explained what had been on offer in the past at Davos’ celebration scene:
“There are several official cocktail receptions, but the action really lies in a galaxy of events hosted by corporations. Some are small, intimate dinners that feature the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Bono. Others are dazzling affairs: JPMorgan Chase, for example, has previously taken over the Kirchner Museum Davos for drinks with its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. Google’s annual party at the InterContinental Hotel has become the hottest ticket in town. The investor Anthony Scaramucci, now an adviser to Donald J. Trump, for years has hosted a reception at the famed Hotel Europe featuring a sometimes eye-popping list of high-end Champagne and Bordeaux red wine.”
The theme for this year’s Davos meetup is “Responsive and Responsible Leadership.” And during their serious engagements, these leaders have decided that one of the reasons for the loss of quality jobs is that robots are just getting so darn good at doing what people used to do. Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Meg Whitman warned that as a result of advancing technologies:
“Jobs will be lost, jobs will evolve and this revolution is going to be ageless, it’s going to be classless and it’s going to affect everyone.”

Eduardo Bontempo, Co-Founder, Geekie, Brazil, speaking during the session: Coding for a Better Future [Image: World Economic Forum / Ciaran McCrickard]
This argument is as hollow as the one that suggests that all of our jobs are being stolen by immigrants. No matter where these CEOs and CFOs look, it is never their own fault and yet it all seems to work out quite nicely for them. CEO of Lloyd’s of London Inga Beale tried to strike a note of solidarity with the worker in her remarks:
“CEOs feel reasonably confident we are not going to be replaced by artificial intelligence. But I’m sure there will be a time.”

Mixed Reality Space at the Annual Meeting 2017 [Image: World Economic Forum / Christian Clavadetscher]
It’s easy to blame technology if you come to work one day to assemble cars and the next day you don’t have to because there is a robot in your place. The key is that it was a decision at some point to use that robot rather than use you. The question is, is it always the best decision to replace people with technology? It depends on what your goals are for ‘best’. If by ‘best’ you mean: working to create an environment in which humans interact with each other, have gainful employment, and can live with dignity and respect gives you one set of answers. If, however, by ‘best’ you mean: the bottom line of the company profit sheet, then you make a different set of decisions.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, admits he under-estimated the potential of Artificial Intelligence [Image: World Economic Forum / Sikarin Thanachaiary]

Maybe it starts with corking a couple of those bottles of champagne and examining their own roles in the direction business is heading. After all, they are supposedly so much in charge as to be irreplaceable. Without this, the word ‘responsible’ is just a hollow buzzword, and the first step is admitting that you have a problem. Discuss in the World Economic Forum forum at 3DPB.com.
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
Print Services
You May Also Like
ADDITIV Metals World Gives Metal AM a Stage
Metal 3D printing is constantly evolving. Driven by high-performance sectors such as defense, aerospace, automotive, oil & gas and maritime, new processes and solutions for additive manufacturing with metal are...
3D Printing News Briefs, April 16, 2025: AM Award Winners, Cold Spray, Drones, & More
We’ve got some more news from last week’s RAPID+TCT to kick off today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, and then moving on to some interesting pieces of military AM news. Read...
RAPID 2025: Stratasys & trinckle Announce Strategic Software Partnership
News continues to flood in from last week’s RAPID+TCT 2025, including a new partnership between AM market leader Stratasys and Berlin-based software company trinckle. By automating important steps in fixture...
How Farsoon’s Metal 3D Printing Brought a 100-Year-Old Motorcycle Back to Life
Visitors at this year’s RAPID + TCT event in Detroit got to see an unexpected showstopper at Farsoon’s booth: a beautifully restored, vintage-inspired motorcycle known as the Pennsylvania 8. Nestled...