Jobs and occupations that will disappear due to AI (artificial intelligence) [Present and future]

Recently, you may often hear stories on TV and in newspapers saying, “Artificial intelligence will steal your job!” I think many people have vague anxiety about the future.

This time,

“What kind of jobs will disappear in the future?” “Is my current job okay?”

I would like to answer the question.

If you are thinking of changing jobs, please refer to it!

Jobs that may be replaced by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots

 Bottom line, if your job is in a field robots are good at, you’re in danger of being out of business within a few years. Professor Michael Osborne of the University of Oxford, who conducts AI (artificial intelligence) research, wrote in his paper “The Future of Employment” that “about half of the jobs will be replaced by robots in the next 10 to 20 years.” announced, causing a great stir.

What kind of jobs will be replaced by robots? The Future of Employment lists the following jobs as likely to be replaced by computers:

[Main jobs that may disappear in the future] Bank loan officer / sports referee / real estate broker / restaurant usher / insurance reviewer Animal breeder / telephone operator / payroll and welfare officer / cashier / Tax return agents / Entertainment facility ushers/ticket pickers / Casino dealers / Manicurists / Librarians / Engravers Hotel usher / Telemarketer / Tailor (hand sewn) / Clock repairman / Data entry clerk / Projection technician Repairer of camera and photography equipment / Credit analyst of financial institution / Technician of spectacles and contact lenses Technician of mixing and spraying pesticide / Denture technician / Surveying technician / Mapping technician / Painter Wallpaper maker Landscaping and site management worker / Construction equipment operator / Door-to-door salesman, street newspaper vendor, street vendor

Did you have your job here now? It is difficult to predict the development of AI (artificial intelligence) and machines, so it is not possible to assert that these jobs will disappear. However, it is necessary to reconsider the career path considering that there is a possibility that it will be replaced by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots.

(I touch on the future of AI (artificial intelligence) in the article below.)

Let’s see how it will be replaced.

Truck or taxi driver

 In recent years, various companies are working to automate the driving of cars. If the automation of driving is successful, it is said that there will be no need for humans to drive various vehicles such as trucks, taxis, and buses, so there will be no jobs to drive. Even today, many automobiles are already equipped with functions that support driving with acceleration/deceleration and simple steering operations. Another type of autonomous driving is a car that automatically stops when it senses the danger of a collision.

Although this autonomous driving technology is like a dream, there are still many problems to be solved.

In the United States, such problems are becoming apparent. A car company called Tesla has a function called “autopilot” in their cars.

With this autopilot function, it is possible to drive without the driver driving in limited environments such as highways.

However, a fatal accident occurred while using this autopilot feature. Is the responsibility for this accident the manufacturer that made the car, or is it the driver’s responsibility? Responsibility is ambiguous and many issues remain.

Cashier

 Many stores in Japan already have unmanned cash registers. I don’t think it’s unusual to have a self-checkout at a supermarket near your house.

However, self-checkout does not use AI (artificial intelligence). Ultimately, mechanization has made the work of registering unmanned until now, and we are only responsible for it.

So what does AI (artificial intelligence) for cash registers mean? In recent years, a supermarket operated by Amazon called “Amazon Go” has opened in the United States.

Amazon Go is a store that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to allow customers to pay without going through a cash register.

To purchase a product,

With just this action, you can shop!

It seems that you feel like you are stealing, but you have completed the payment firmly. (Be careful not to get too used to Amazon Go and end up doing it at a regular store lol)

But how can that be done?

Many sensors and cameras in the store track customers, and the system is such that they know what they pick up and put back. However, at the current stage, there are issues and it seems that it may not work well when many customers come to the store at the same time.

Also, product replenishment is still manual and has not reached full automation, but the day when it will be fully automated may be near.

Paralegal, Lawyer’s Assistant

 It is said that AI (artificial intelligence) will automate some of the work done by lawyers, instead of completely robots doing the profession of lawyers.

Even today, AI (artificial intelligence) called “Ross” developed by IBM is active in several law firms. What kind of work do you do?

Such a job can be done much cheaper and more accurately than a human could do. However, it is considered difficult for AI (artificial intelligence) to replace humans in the work of lawyers, such as accepting client complaints and concerns and giving them satisfaction and peace of mind.

Characteristics of jobs that will be replaced by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots

 Now that you’ve seen a few specific jobs, what do they all have in common?

It can be said that it is the following two.

Routine work (simple work)

Emotionless robots are good at repeating things over and over again. On top of that, deep learning is constantly improving how we can do our work efficiently. For example, self-driving cars are also based on this mechanism.

Jobs that require data processing speed and accuracy

The ability of robots to process large amounts of data quickly and accurately is unmatched by humans. AI (artificial intelligence) can process past trial data and other data and come up with the optimal solution for the current situation, making it possible to perform part of the legal work more efficiently and accurately than humans.

Characteristics of jobs that can only be done by humans and jobs whose value will increase in the future

I talked about how AI (artificial intelligence) is difficult to substitute for work that affects people’s emotions, even in the work of lawyers. Robots can’t do that kind of work, so we have to have excellent people do it, even if it costs a lot of money. In other words, it can be rephrased as a job whose value will increase in the future.

So, specifically, what kind of jobs cannot be done by AI (artificial intelligence)? It is the following two.

Creative work

Machines are good at making improvements based on past examples. However, we cannot do the so-called 0 → 1 work that creates something completely unprecedented. For AI (artificial intelligence), it is not something that is required in calculations. This is, in other words, the ability to edit information.

To influence someone’s emotions

Machines can read and write sentences, but they can’t read between the lines or read between the lines. In other words, the act of interpreting a text is still something that only humans can do.

What will the future of work look like?

Many people are afraid that their jobs will be replaced by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots, but this is not all bad news for humankind. So what are the benefits? It means you can focus on being creative.

Throughout history, humans have always been automated through technology. For example, in the past, we used to wash our clothes by hand, but now our washing machines do it automatically. Clothes that used to be hand-sewn are now made automatically by robots.

By doing so, humans have more time to think, and new technologies have been born.

What I can say from this is that there is also a risk of losing your job if you do not acquire creative skills. Specifically, it is important to master the following tasks as mentioned earlier.

Of course, as an engineer, one way is to be on the side of creating new AI (artificial intelligence) and robots. In today’s world, the development of technology is remarkable, so if you acquire IT skills, you will not be able to eat up.

Summary: Let’s make a career plan with the future in mind!

We introduced jobs and occupations that will be replaced by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots. It may be difficult to imagine that the jobs and occupations I introduced will disappear, but the risk of them disappearing is high.

Even in our familiar places, cash register systems are being automated and self-driving technology is beginning to be introduced, and robots are gradually starting to replace them.

Even if your job isn’t cashier or driver, it’s not someone else’s business. You never know when a wave of automation will hit your territory.

With this article as a reference, it might be a good idea to review your future career plans.