With recent advances in artificial intelligence making scenes from Blade Runner seem just a few years away, many of us are left wondering how our employment prospects are going to look soon. Just look at the self-driving taxis that have taken to the streets in recent years, your uncle’s irritating drone invading every family event these days or Alexa and Siri who are at our beck and call with just a word.

It’s understandable then that many of us find the idea of our robotic counterparts taking over our jobs an unnerving one and it’s hard not to conjure up scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, A.I won’t be making us humans totally redundant for a while yet. On the flip side, think back to when computers hit the corporate world and how many prophesied a similar decline in employment. In reality, they provided us with the advanced technology to complete our jobs smarter and more efficiently. While A.I will make life easier and simpler for humans through automation, it is also likely to create more roles in advanced technology for humans too. As one role is replaced by A.I, another is likely to be brought into existence for us mere mortals.

If you’re questioning the sustainability of your job industry or which roles are the most anchored in security...keep reading below to see 5 jobs that are on the verge of A.I replacement and 5 that are likely to be safe from automation.

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5 Jobs on the verge of A.I replacement

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Telemarketers -

They’re notorious for calling just as you’re about to sit down to dinner and seem to have a 6th sense for when you least want to be disturbed...so the majority of us probably aren’t too cut up about this one. Conversion rates for direct telephone sales are pretty unsuccessful at typically less than 10%, so it makes sense then that this industry would look to automation to replace humans as a cost efficient update requiring little skill.

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Soldiers -

At the moment, soldiers regularly work alongside A.I on the battlefield, as witnessed in Iraq, Russia and Afghanistan in recent years. Weaponized drones have been used in eradicating the enemy. Many believe robots will replace human soldiers entirely in the not too distant future with Russia proclaiming it’s a matter of ‘when, not if’. However, both the ethical and coding challenges posed by this sort of A.I use has many believing it’s easier said than done.

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Receptionists -

A friendly face is no longer required anymore when it comes to phoning, scheduling and greeting customers. Forget the awkward social interactions with the receptionist at your local dentist. Automated systems are instead becoming the new norm in both large and small offices with computerization and automation tipped to have a 96% probability of taking over this role.

Factory Workers -

They have been consistently replaced by robots for years and the trend is only accelerating. With huge multinational companies, like those based in China, firing thousands of human workers annually in order to cut down costs, the future of human factory workers globally is looking pretty bleak. Oxford Economics estimates that up to 20 million factory jobs could be replaced by robots by 2030. This will be a huge blow for many in this industry who rely on this form of unskilled work and is the darker side of A.I.

Drivers -

Get ready to see plastic faces in your local bus drivers seat. Whether it’s a bus driver, taxi driver or courier...the future of these delivery services is set to be replaced by autonomous vehicles, drones and robots. Tesla has already provided us with semi-autonomous cars and it won’t be long before human supervision is no longer needed. Whether human passengers will trust their A.I drivers and delivery services is another thing. It is predicted an estimated 2 million jobs in the U.S. alone will be lost once driving is fully automated.

5 Jobs that are A.I proof

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Scientists -

Right now, A.I has yet to match human’s creativity and ability for invention. A.I ultimately needs to be given a goal to optimize whereas humans have free reign in our creativity and are able to use A.I to analyse data rather than invent it. While nobody can predict how creative A.I will become in the future, it seems unlikely it will match human scientists anytime soon.

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Writers -

This is another creative field where A.I is yet to match the human mind. Since writers are required to be original and create work that is often based on personal experience and imagination, they need to have an emotional capacity that machines just don’t have yet. While a robot might be able to come up with some generic material, they certainly won’t be winning any Nobel Literature prizes anytime soon.

Lawyers -

This role requires attributes that are impossible for A.I to successfully demonstrate. Namely, the ability to argue with or persuade a human being. Not to mention the endless ‘gray areas’ that humans still struggle with, let alone robots . So while tasks involving emotional intelligence will be left to humans, A.I can remain second fiddle and help to relieve the burden of more mundane administrative tasks.

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Software Developers -

This creator's role is another one that relies heavily on creativity, imagination and a real passion. As a consequence, it seems pretty unlikely A.I will be creating A.I in the near future. While A.I is already making code such as DeepCoder, A.I technology has a long way to go before it is flawless. A recent example of how much A.I needs to be polished is the creation of Microsoft’s Twitter bot ‘Tay’. The bot had to be taken offline after 16 hours when it began posting offensive Tweets to users.

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Psychiatrists -

This one is more of a no-brainer, since Psychiatry is a highly emotive job that requires a deep understanding of the human mind. A.I doesn’t yet have the faculties to understand complex human emotions or compete with human empathy and experience.  

While it may seem like we are on the brink of an A.I takeover with the revolutionary technology being rolled out...in reality most technology is still in its infancy. There are definitely some industries like those listed above that are on the right trajectory to be taken over by A.I in the near future. But let’s not panic just yet, there are still plenty of highly skilled positions out there that A.I simply doesn’t have the capabilities to take over, particularly those requiring creativity and emotional intelligence.

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If you’re on the lookout for a secure career path, take a look at the latest job openings by clicking here!

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