Mother and daughter are in school together at Wake Tech studying to become medical assistants. They are attracted to the career path because of its reliability.

At NC State University's Hunt Library, the "Book Bot" can search more than a million titles in a matter of minutes.

There are those who worry that automation in the workplace will push humans out of their jobs. And then there are the Wake Tech students working to find ways to teach people to work with robots, instead of against them.

Automation and artificial intelligence have already impacted the American economy. But as the pace of technological change picks up, economists and futurists say the jury's still out on whether the future of employment holds promise or peril for American workers.