Virtually all real gains in wealth over humanities history have been gains in technological efficiency. "Poverty" in 21st century American means something VERY, VERY different than "Poverty" in 19th century America.
That stated, IBM's "Watson" and it's just-now manifesting applications is creating quite the stir amongst economist because it represent the first replacement in history of "white collar" workers with automation...
The truth is, nobody knows what to expect, because this is a first. There is NO reference point from which to draw conclusions. Consider the perspective from a year and a half ago:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/larrya...rts-replacing-white-collar-jobs/#340f8caf1639
Or from early this year regarding attorneys:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/17/lawyers-could-be-replaced-by-artificial-intelligence.html
You won't find much of anything from my peers on the subject (because the nature of our field makes prediction a traditionally suicidal career practice, ever notice how vague economic predictions tend to be?). They will wait until the effects can be seen and measured to make public statements, but I assure you, privately we speak of what to expect when traditionally highly educated positions are eliminated by automation. It's a big deal because it has the potential to undermine some of the fundamental tenements of Capitalism. Or, better put, it has the potential to change the rules of the game enough to undermine our discipline and the viability of our predictions (such as they are).
It's scary, and probably leading to a really, really horrible transition phase, but has the potential to be a virtual paradise.
P.S. The articles in the OP only address the advancement of
online business, which is FAR less concerning than A.I.
Edit: It's worth mentioning a lot of economist try to shoe-horn these developments into traditional models, but they look really weak. Chances are we are facing something completely new, and have no real idea what to expect.