Atlas is done shrugging—now he’s doing the Macarena.
He can also skip, run, do cartwheels, and twist in ways no human being could even dream of doing.
We’re not talking about the titan from Greek mythology who was condemned to hold up the sky for eternity.
This Atlas is a 200-pound, humanoid robot created by Boston Dynamics (BSX) and powered by Nvidia (NVDA) technology, which was featured on the CBS program 60 Minutes.
“This robot is capable of superhuman motion,” said Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter. “The neat thing that this new robot can do that I have not seen before is all of its joints can rotate a full 360°.”
“Well, that’s beyond what you and I can do, and we think that’s the way you should build robots: don’t limit yourself to what people can do but actually go beyond.”
While Atlas displayed impressive abilities, Playter said that it will take time to make these robots reliable and affordable.
But the robots are coming. A 2024 Citi report predicted that there could be 1.3 billion AI robots by 2035 and four billion by 2050.
“Robots are on the move, from theory to reality and from useless to useful,” the study said.
The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked concerns in some circles about what role humans will play in this future of robots, drones, autonomous vehicles, and other tech advances.
Boston Scientific’s Atlas robot was recently featured on 60 Minutes.
Boston Scientific
Report warns of AI job losses
AI was the primary driver of the stock market’s strong performance in 2025. Of the 21.4 percentage points gained by the Morningstar US Technology Index, 11.9 came from the semiconductor industry, “the hardware backbone of the AI trade.”
The next largest contribution came from software infrastructure firms, specifically those building the AI platforms that run on that computing power, Morningstar said.
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There are those who see very dark times ahead, while others believe these fears are unjustified and believe AI will make our lives better.
The world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to David Dalrymple, a program director and AI safety expert at the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
“I think we should be concerned about systems that can perform all of the functions that humans perform to get things done in the world, but better,” he told The Guardian in a Jan. 4 interview. “Because we will be outcompeted in all of the domains that we need to be dominant in, in order to maintain control of our civilization, society and planet.”
Dalrymple said there was a gap in understanding between the public sector and AI companies about the power of looming breakthroughs in the technology.
“I would advise that things are moving really fast and we may not have time to get ahead of it from a safety perspective,” he said. “And it’s not science fiction to project that within five years most economically valuable tasks will be performed by machines at a higher level of quality and lower cost than by humans.”
A recently released Senate report warned AI could eliminate millions of jobs across multiple sectors over the next decade.
The study was compiled by staffers of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
The HELP staff asked ChatGPT to analyze job descriptions catalogued by the federal government for the entire U.S. economy and predict tasks that could be performed by AI and automation.
Artificial intelligence and automation could replace nearly 100 million jobs over the next ten years, according to the ChatGPT-based model, including 89% of fast food and counter workers, 64% of accountants, and 47% of truck drivers.
Survey: executives channeling AI gains
“The reality is no one knows exactly what will happen,” the report said. “There is tremendous uncertainty about the real capabilities of AI and automation, their effects on the rest of the economy, and how governments and markets will respond.”
Although this basic analysis reflects all the inherent limitations of ChatGPT, the study said, “it represents one potential future in which corporations decide to aggressively push forward with artificial labor.”
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“Artificial labor could not only put millions of people out of work from their existing job. It could also replace new jobs that could have been created,” the report said. “A factory worker who loses their job cannot be told to learn to code if artificial labor also takes the coding job.”
“At the very least, artificial labor could bring rapid and destabilizing job displacement.”
Sanders said he will push for a moratorium on AI data center construction in an effort to “give democracy a chance to catch up” amid concerns about the “unregulated sprint” to develop the technology.
Critics argue that the job loss estimates are “wildly speculative” and based on “fuzzy math,” while ignoring the potential for job creation
A report by accounting and auditing firm EY found that many business leaders are channeling productivity gains from AI into retraining employees rather than reducing headcount.
The EY US AI Pulse Survey polled 500 US-employed senior vice presidents and above from a range of sectors.
Only 17% of organizations investing in AI and experiencing AI-driven productivity gains said these gains led to reduced headcount.
Far more reported reinvesting their AI-driven gains into existing AI capabilities, developing new AI capabilities, strengthening cybersecurity, investing in research and development, and upskilling and reskilling employees.
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