Jobs Threatened by the Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

There are predictions that artificial intelligence software could make 10.5 million jobs unnecessary in the next 10 to 20 years. You may be at risk if you work in any of these sectors: office and administrative support; sales and services, transportation, construction and extraction or manufacturing.

Just as industrial automation has replaced thousands of industrial operators, artificial intelligence and robots now reduce the need for parking attendants (replaced by license plate recognition systems) and bank tellers (replaced by automated teller machines). In Japan, the Henn-na Hotel reception is staffed by humanoid robots who speak Japanese, Chinese, Korean or English.

Robot Authority

According to a study by Oxford University, UK, the jobs most at risk of being replaced in the future include:

“skills management, financial services, computer science, engineering, science, teaching, legal services, community services, arts and the media, and healthcare.”

It has been predicted that automation, which includes mechanized robots and AI software programs, will eliminate 6% jobs in the U.S.A five years from now. This will not only affect the low-wage employees, high-skilled, knowledge-based employees in some sectors, such as legal and accounting will also be affected. According to Deloitte, 39% of jobs in the legal sector could be automated for about ten years from now. Other research has concluded that accountants will lose their jobs to automation in the future by a 95% chance.

It’s no longer about making predictions, but it is now a reality: robots and computers are already replacing some mechanical work and will begin to perform more intellectual tasks in the future.

Below are some of the most threatened jobs by Artificial Intelligence and robots.

Self Driving CarsDrivers

The self-driving cars threaten the future of the human driver of trucks, buses, and taxis. Technology is constantly improving, and with Tesla, Google, Ford, Volvo, Uber and many others pushing for driver-less.

However, the impact of self-driving cars could be much wider. They have the potential to reduce car ownership. Instead of having two cars, you can share a ride in a self-driving car that has an efficient route to pick you up and drop you off. Fewer cars equal fewer sales, which translates into fewer jobs in product plants, dealers, workshops and other related businesses which are also already being impacted by robotic automation.

Real Estate Agents

Just like travel websites, such as Expedia, has taken us away from the traditional travel agencies and are offering better deals, home selling websites threaten real estate agents. You can now advertise your home on websites without having to hire a real estate agent. These AI driven websites will help to manage the complete sales process without the need for people involved. Some real estate agents are adjusting to the trend by offering home sellers the option of paying a small fee for help and advice and assisting versus selling.

Insurance Underwriters and Claims Representatives

The insurance industry is already feeling the effect of automation. In Japan, for instance, the Guardian reports that Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance has replaced thirty of its medical insurance claims rep with an artificial intelligence based on IBM’s Watson Explore. The software can “analyze and interpret all of your data, including unstructured texts, images, audio, and video” faster and better than a human. According to the company’s representative, the software can drastically reduce the time needed to calculate the company’s payout.

Receptionists

Telephony systems and automatic phone call system are replacing several of the conventional functions of the traditional management assistant, both for attending to customers’ inquiries and for passing information within the company. Today, large companies use chatbots to channel common inquiries using machine learning systems automatically.

Packing and Distribution Managers

The person in charge of sending internal documentation within the company will also be affected by automation. On the one hand, there are storage and distribution companies that already work with drones and robots driven by artificial intelligence. On the other hand, artificial intelligence is learning to make decisions that used to be made by a person, such as delivering a package in a poorly typed address or determining the most efficient distribution routes.

Editors

Grammar and spelling correction tools like Grammarly or Hemingway are learning from the errors and corrections of their users. Soon, we will not need to pass our documents to a colleague or assistant to proofread our writing. Artificial intelligence will take both the grammatical rules and the proper terms for a particular industry into account.

Financial analysts

Financial analysts were once considered very useful to a company because of their ability to spot trends before it occurs, which allows institutions to adjust their portfolios and potentially improve the bottom-line. However, human financial analysts can no longer compete with AI-driven financial analysis software, capable of reading and recognizing trends in vast amounts of historical data and using such data to make predictions for future market moves.

Market Researchers

With just a click, companies have quick access to detailed reports and business intelligence just like the type any good market analyst can produce. Today, with the massive amounts information on the Internet and the proliferation of large data analysis systems, it is becoming easier to automate the analysis of metrics and statistics, without the need to hire a company for such researches.

While computers, robots and artificial intelligence take over many jobs such as sales, documentation aids, travel agents, and secretaries, etc., new technologies have also created new jobs, such as software developers, big data architects, and digital marketing specialists.

We really have no clear idea what kind of jobs will be available when today’s children grow up, they may be drone pilots or land traffic controllers who monitor the movement of self-driving cars. They may even be urban farmers who tend shelters for hydroponic crops in old office buildings or aerospace engineers who work for SpaceX.

There is no doubt that computers, AI, and robots will eliminate some of the jobs that humans do today. However, they will also create some new ones that we can’t even imagine today.