Scientists Have Determined The Jobs AI Is Most Likely To Destroy, Will You Be Replaced?
Experts predict that AI will replace workers in telecommunication, legal service, education, and finance jobs.
Artificial Intelligence has caused a stir due to the popularity of programs like ChatGPT. While people marveled at its ability to mimic human interactions, AI also created concerns about jobs and employment. The threat isn’t unfounded since the technology was developed to automate tasks, and careers most at risk include telemarketers, legal services, teaching roles, and financial positions.
The topic has been explored in detail by a group of university professors. In a paper via SSRN titled “How Will Language Modelers like ChatGPT Affect Occupations and Industries?” Edward W. Felten (Princeton University), Manav Raj (University of Pennsylvania), and Robert Seamans (New York University) examined how likely it would be for AI to take on human jobs.
Although the AI jobs study has yet to be peer-reviewed, the results are ominous and fascinating. “We find that the top occupations exposed to language modeling include telemarketers, post-secondary teachers such as English language and literature, foreign language and literature, and history teachers,” the researchers said.
The top industries exposed to AI advances in language modeling also include jobs in securities, commodities, and investments. For the AI study, the professors used a method they developed in 2018, which estimates which occupational descriptions changed as a result of advances in technology between 2010 and 2015.
After mapping ten areas where AI was advancing to 52 abilities used in jobs, the data was cross-referenced with information from the U.S. Department of Labor to determine the importance of those skills in 800 human-executed occupations. The result was an AI Occupational Exposure score, in which a high number means there’s a large possibility that automation will take over an industry.
Away from the study, AI puts other jobs at risk too. After testing its beta Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), Google said it would hire ChatGPT as an entry-level coder if it applied at the company. “Amazingly, it gets hired at L3 when interviewed for a coding position,” an internal document comparing LaMDA and ChatGPT said via CNBC.
L3 is an entry-level grade for a software engineer at Google. The position is popular with college graduates and people in their first coding job. While it seems like AI could eventually take up multiple jobs, experts say it’s not that simple. Careers that require adaptability and flexibility are more difficult for technology to replace.
Professions with a strong human element, like social work and therapy, are also unlikely to be taken over by technology. AI within these jobs wouldn’t have time to learn about each unique human experience. Meanwhile, the media industry has been experimenting with AI-generated content.
But the results have been largely underwhelming.
When tech news site CNET used an AI tool similar to ChatGPT to take on content creation jobs, the publication had to issue several corrections, Business Insider reports. The reason for the errors was the program’s lack of human judgment, as most of the work done by content creators cannot be automated.
