Taskrabbit CEO Ania Smith isn’t afraid of AI robots replacing human labor

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Today, I’m talking with Taskrabbit CEO Ania Smith. Taskrabbit is an interesting company; it’s known best for being a platform for hiring people to put together your furniture, so much so that Ikea acquired it in 2017. But Taskrabbit is still operating as a mostly independent company all these years later, and Ania is now in charge of maneuvering a fast-changing labor market during uncertain economic times and a potentially major AI disruption to the workforce on the horizon.

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Links:

• Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wants to build the everything app | Decoder
• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay with reinventing the bus | Decoder
• Google’s Project Mariner | Google
• Uber is testing a service that lets you hire drivers for chores | Verge
• Taskrabbit CEO on using empathy in leadership | Fortune
• Taskrabbit takes over on-demand moving service Dolly | GeekWire
• Ikea integrates Taskrabbit booking service into checkout | Retail Dive
• TaskRabbit to close its offices, go entirely remote | MarketWatch
• IKEA has bought TaskRabbit | TechCrunch
• Taskrabbit CEO: People will still power an AI workforce | Verge
  

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder

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