Summary: <p>Robots are having a moment.</p> <p>They're breaking hearts in the movie "Ex Machina," splayed across the pages of The New York Times and filling the airwaves with a <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/money/" target="_blank">series</a> from NPR's Planet Money on robots' role in the workforce.</p> <p>It's a story we've heard before: since the days of the Industrial Revolution, machines have threatened to take our jobs. But in the 21st century, this is not your great-grandfather's robot. </p> <p>A recent <a href="http://nber.org/papers/w20941">paper</a> by economists at Columbia and Boston University claims the kinds of robots being made these days might actually increase income inequality. And another <a href="http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/sites/futuretech.ox.ac.uk/files/The_Future_of_Employment_OMS_Working_Paper_1.pdf" target="_blank">study </a>found that nearly half of U.S. employment could be a risk of being computerized. </p> <p>Money Talking host Charlie Herman asks <a href="http://www.npr.org/people/350888943/stacey-vanek-smith">Stacey Vanek Smith</a> from Planet Money and <a href="http://ftalphaville.ft.com/meet-the-team/cardiff-garcia/">Cardiff Garcia</a> with the Financial Times what kinds of robots could threaten to edge out workers, and whether the government should step in and help.</p>
