As someone who regularly works across business sectors, Iāve heard it all, from AI is going to take all of our jobs! to No, AI is barely going to have any impact and even to Does it matter either way? In response, I say, āEnough of the fearmongering!ā
In this blog, Iāll offer a nuanced but straightforward breakdown of how AI will impact the future of jobs, from careers that are more at risk of decline to those that are more likely to remain unaffected. Iāll also offer some tipsāand some reassurance!āabout the future of jobs in the face of AI. Letās take a breath and untangle this knot together!
First and foremost, I donāt wish to shy away from the reality that there are multiple jobs that are likely to decline as a result of AI. As we can see in the above graph, McKinsey & Company observes that ā[a]ctivities most susceptible to automation includeā¦ [those] in predictable environments,ā such as the operation of repetitive machinery, fast food work, cashiers, data collectors, office clerks, paralegal work, and so forth. Indeed, we have seen a decline in some of these careers already; consider the increasing prevalence of self-checkouts in grocery stores.
Additionally, as someone dedicated to DEI, I also want to highlight that the insurgence of AI will disproportionately impact women and people of color, especially those in the working class. Not only are ā[w]orkers in lower-wage jobsā¦up to 14 times more likely to need to change occupations than those in highest-wage positions,ā but a) women have historically been overrepresented in customer service and office support work and b) people of color have historically been overrepresented in food services and customer service as well, all of which are the primary areas experiencing decline because of AI. Why do I point this out? No to increase anxiety, but to raise awareness! Rather than getting overwhelming by What if? fears related to AI, it is crucial that we are knowledgeable about who is most going to be impacted by AI and why, as that knowledge allows us to both step and up aid those who need it and spread more awareness, helping ensure these inequities do not go unnoticed.
Taking a step back, I also want to note that less than 5% of jobs are expected to be replaced fully by AI or other automation; rather, about 60% of occupations will experience the incorporation of AI and other automation into their work. Such a distinction is crucial to highlight when weāre all gripped with anxiety about the future of our careers. In other words, the influx of AI is not going to kick us out of our positions in one fell swoop but will primarily supplement and improve the work weāre already doing. AI is thus not something we should feel unbridled fear towardāitās but another tool we should educate ourselves on and prepare to use in our day to day!
As the above McKinsey & Company graph notes, there are also multiple areas of work that will remain largely unaffected by AI. In general, AI and other forms of automation āwill have a lesser effect on jobs that involve managing people, applying expertise, and social interactionsā as well as on ā[j]obs in unpredictable environmentsā¦ because they are technically difficult to automate.ā Consequently, careers in healthcare (especially personal aides), IT, energy (especially renewable energy), managerial positions, architectural construction, and so forth will not be tremendously impacted by AI because they involve too much human-to-human interaction and/or involve too much variance for automation to offer any benefit toward. Other careers, too, such as creatives and legal professionals, have begun adapting their labor around AI rather than their field of work being ātaken overā outright.
At the end of the day, itās clear that careers across the spectrum will be impacted by AI, sometimes in total uprooting but more often just by its mere presence in their workplace. So what can we do to prepare ourselves for this shifting landscape of work?
Simple: get creative!
The increased usage of AI ādrives increased need for social and emotional skills in the workplace,ā especially interpersonal communication, problem-solving, adaptability, logical reasoning, collaboration, and other soft skills. AI gets the dull, repetitive work out of the way so people can āuse the time that is freed up to focus on higher-value activities.ā Because AI thrives on sameness, the demand for new and exciting things will be highāas such, more people will not only be able to start their own businesses but will also have waiting audiences at the ready! McKinsey & Company even estimates that around 8% of jobs available as soon as 2023 āwill be in new types of occupations that have not existed before,ā jobs that have not just emerged out of necessity but out of human creativity.
If I havenāt convinced you that the age of AI is not one we should fear, donāt fret. I understand your anxiety, especially if you work in a career that is more likely to be upended by automation. Let me remind us all of something crucial as AI continues evolving around us: AI is not infallible! AI is not perfect, AI is always developing, and AI is not the solution to everything. Tell me, is the image below familiar to you?
That would be one of Japanās care robots, designed to automate and improve elder care in Japan. This often embody the idea of the ārobot revolutionā and a techno-solutionist vision to labor shortages.
But wait, you may be thinking. Didnāt you say healthcare was less likely to be impacted by the AI boom?
I did! And although these robots may offer flashy images, the reality is that they arenāt commonly used in Japan, be it in elderly institutions or home care. Why? Well, these robots ultimately increased the labor of caretakers (despite their intent to decrease labor); decreased the amount of time available for caretakers to perform social and emotional care with their patients (despite their intent to increase this time); and were just ātoo impractical and expensive for real-life deployment.ā
I offer this example not to disregard the good intentions of this automation project, as one of the main benefits of AI should ideally be the opportunity for humans to engage in greater connection with one another. If that does not work out, then odds are that the particular AI at hand wonāt make a significant splash in our lives. We valueācraveāhuman connection with one another, and even in the age of AI, that desire is not going anywhere. As such, if AI doesnāt facilitate and increase opportunities for human connection in our workplace, then perhaps that AI wonāt have much of a role in our workplace at all.
To conclude, I asked ChatGPT to generate a list of 100 jobs that might be at risk of automation in the future because of AI. Well, it gave me a list of 100 jobs, but it also repeated itself more than 15 times to do soāhardly foolproof technology that can act unsupervised! We need humans to work with, not against, AI. Even though all of our lives will be changed, if we continue to develop our soft skills and hone our creativity, weāll be able to ride this wave into the new age togetherāso take my hand and hold on tight!
Dima Ghawi is the founder of a global talent development company with a primary mission for advancing individuals in leadership. Through keynote speeches, training programs and executive coaching, Dima has empowered thousands of professionals across the globe to expand their leadership potential. In addition, she provides guidance to business executives to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and to implement a multi-year plan for advancing quality leaders from within the organization. Reach her at DimaGhawi.com and BreakingVases.com.
