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Mark Cuban: Tagging data is the low-skilled job of tomorrow

Evan Vucci / AP

The spread of artificial intelligence technology will create great demand for workers to "tag and label data," Mark Cuban argued at an event staged by VC firm Lerer Hippeau in New York Tuesday. "In order for machine learning, deep learning ... to be effective and work the most quickly, the more data that is tagged and defined and labeled correctly the quicker everything goes," he told Axios' Dan Primack.

Prepare yourself for the future: Cuban is a big believer in the power of AI, and its power to disturb labor markets. "There's going to be more disruption sooner than people have expected over the next 4 or 5 years," he said. According to Cuban, we all should be preparing for a workplace dominated by this new technology. The important question, he argues, is not how many jobs it will destroy, "The real question is how is it going to disrupt your job."

What jobs will go? Cuban argued that we're already seeing the evidence of the application of new labor-saving technology, pointing to the example of Ford's plans to cut 10% of its workforce even as revenues are near record highs. He listed non-trial corporate lawyers, accountants and book keepers, insurance adjusters, and doctors as key jobs that will be partially eliminated or greatly changed by machine learning and AI.

Go deeper

Marisa Fernandez
7 mins ago - Health

OIG: HHS misused millions of dollars intended for public health threats

Vaccine vials. Photo: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel alerted the White House and Congress on Wednesday of an investigation that found the Department of Health and Human Services misused millions of dollars that were budgeted for vaccine research and public health emergencies for Ebola, Zika and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: The more than 200-page investigation corroborated claims from a whistleblower, showing the agency's violation of the Purpose Statute spanned both the Obama and Trump administrations and paid for unrelated projects like salaries, news subscriptions and the removal of office furniture.

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Zachary Basu
8 mins ago - Energy & Environment

John Kerry: U.S.-China climate cooperation is a "critical standalone issue"

President Biden's special climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. must deal with China on climate change as a "critical standalone issue," but stressed that confronting Beijing's human rights and trade abuses "will never be traded" for climate cooperation.

Why it matters: The last few years have brought about a bipartisan consensus on the threat posed by China. But as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China will be a vital player if the world is going to come close to reining in emissions on the scale needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook
46 mins ago - World

In cyber espionage, U.S. is both hunted and hunter

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

American outrage over foreign cyber espionage, like Russia's SolarWinds hack, obscures the uncomfortable reality that the U.S. secretly does just the same thing to other countries.

Why it matters: Secrecy is often necessary in cyber spying to protect sources and methods, preserve strategic edges that may stem from purloined information, and prevent diplomatic incidents.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow