Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
Harnessing Our Digital Future
In The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson predicted some of the far-reaching effects of digital technologies on our lives and businesses. Now they’ve written a guide to help listeners make the most of our collective future. Machine | Platform | Crowd outlines the opportunities and challenges inherent in the science fiction technologies that have come to life in recent years, like self-driving cars and 3D printers, online platforms for renting outfits and scheduling workouts, or crowd-sourced medical research and financial instruments.
About Erik Brynjolfsson
Erik Brynjolfsson (pronounced brin-YOLF-son) is the most widely cited scholar on the economics of AI and digital technologies. At Stanford, he studies how information technology affects business strategy, productivity, digital commerce and intangible assets. He and longtime collaborator Andrew McAfee are the only people named to both the Thinkers50 list of the world's top management thinkers and the Politico 50, and they co-founded Workhelix, Inc. Thinkers50 has ranked Brynjolfsson among the world's top management thinkers six times, from 2015 to 2025, and presented him and McAfee with its 2015 Digital Thinking Award; it has also shortlisted him for its Strategy Award (2013), Digital Thinking Award (2017) and Future Readiness Award (2025).
An optimistic economist, Brynjolfsson predicts a productivity boom in the coming decade driven by new technologies and business transformation. He estimates that 50% to 60% of the workforce will be affected by AI, and his team has examined some 18,000 tasks to map how generative AI, robotics and remote work will reshape specific jobs and industries. His counsel to leaders is direct: "Implementing new technology will be much more about restructuring and reorganizing work, not mass replacement or unemployment."
Bring this book to your organization
Tell us about your event and we will be in touch right away.