The big headlines about job losses tend to focus on the big employers. Layoffs at UPS, 48,000 — at Intel, 24,000. Amazon is cutting up to 30,000 workers, and Target, 1,800. These pink slips are being dropped largely on white-collar positions.

The thinking is that artificial intelligence will be able to handle much of the work now being done at desks. Dropping heavier workloads on those who remain seems to be another part of the plan.

AI is considered “intelligent” automation. In other words, it has cognitive abilities. That is not quite the same thing as robotics, which is “mechanical” automation.

But the robots have gotten really good — with the help of AI. Self-driving cars are robots, but their “brains” are powered by AI, which tells them how to steer, brake or accelerate. Now envisi

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