The COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate the trend toward labor-replacing automation, although the reasons why this will occur may initially appear counterintuitive. Businesses are already investing heavily in both automation and artificial intelligence as a means to cut cost, improve productivity, and accomplish tasks that are impossible for humans to achieve. The coronavirus pandemic strengthens the justification for greater business investment in computing, robotics, algorithms, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other forms of automating work.