Substantial wealth is being created with only a few workers, and with the exception of a small fraction of highly skilled workers, wages may not rise over their lifetime. Building on a widely discussed paper entitled The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?, this report examines how the changing nature of innovation, stemming from the digital revolution, is transforming the world of work and the challenges it brings.

Machine learning and big data will shape our lives in the near future.

This study compares the accuracy of personality judgment—a ubiquitous and important social-cognitive activity—between computer models and humans. Using several criteria, we show that computers’ judgments of people’s personalities based on their digital footprints are more accurate and valid than judgments made by their close others or acquaintances (friends, family, spouse, colleagues, etc.). Our findings highlight that people’s personalities can be predicted automatically and without involving human social-cognitive skills.