The jobs that artificial intelligence will actually replace in 2024
(Baonghean.vn) - The study "The impact of technology on the working environment" conducted by Tech.co has pointed out the occupations and tasks at highest risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).
With the rise and popularity of platforms like ChatGPT and Google Bard, it is safe to say that workers around the world are very concerned about the future of their jobs and careers. After all, these tools have been proven to significantly improve productivity when performing various tasks in the workplace.
But is AI really capable of replacing jobs in today’s business world? Based on research from Tech.co, we explore which roles are at risk, how widespread AI job replacement actually is, and what might be holding back the technology’s progress.
What jobs is artificial intelligence replacing?
Tech.co’s study on “The Impact of Technology on the Workplace” gathered a lot of information, the most important of which was the types of jobs and tasks that are being replaced by AI.
Due to the innovative nature of AI platforms currently on the market, some jobs may seem more vulnerable to being replaced than others. However, Tech.co’s research actually shows the opposite, with writing (63%), design (51%), and language translation (50%) being tasks where AI tools have had no impact on eliminating job roles.
Other roles, however, are not so lucky. For example, supply chain optimization is the most likely to be replaced by AI, with 72% of businesses admitting to eliminating at least some jobs to perform the task. Other roles at the bottom of the list include legal research (65%), financial analysis (64%) and predictive maintenance on fixed assets (65%).
The report also outlined the reasons behind the role being replaced by AI: “It may be a purely profit-driven decision, as these complex and time-consuming data processing roles require large costs to employ highly trained professionals. Therefore, replacing them with automated systems will save the most money for the company, which is why they are willing to take the risk of not hiring full-time staff to do this,” said Jennifer McIlveen, Editor-in-Chief of Tech.co.
As always, decisions about which roles to replace with AI are largely financial, so understanding the prevalence of AI job replacement can help us plan for the future.
How common is job replacement by artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence and the myriad platforms that have emerged from its advances over the past few years are giving businesses the tools to solve big problems. In many cases, these services are streamlining and even automating roles, meaning some jobs are being replaced.
But how widespread is this change? Tech.co’s research found that AI isn’t having as big an impact on job replacement as we might expect, with just 4% of businesses saying AI is having a major impact on replacing job roles. In fact, 53% of businesses surveyed said AI is having no impact on eliminating job roles.
“The issue is not urgent yet. It is clear that technology and AI have begun to impact job roles, but for most professionals, there is still a long way to go before we need to sound the alarm,” said Jennifer McIlveen, Editor-in-Chief of Tech.co.
Simply put, if we are worried about our jobs being replaced by AI, we still have time before we start updating our resumes, especially since the AI platforms on the market today still have many limitations.
What keeps the rate of job replacement by AI low?
Given the prevalence and rapid productivity improvements of AI platforms, it can be difficult to understand exactly why more jobs are not being replaced by AI. To be fair, we are glad that the global economy has not been severely affected by this new technology, but what is keeping the rate of job replacement by AI so low?
Trust in AI is currently low, especially when it comes to providing misinformation, according to research by Tech.co. In fact, 49% of businesses surveyed said they were concerned about the risk of large language models (LLMs) generating misinformation.
As a result, most businesses don’t feel confident handing over their entire operations to an AI system that can make mistakes, which means there are still a lot of jobs and skills that won’t be replaced in the near future.
What job skills are still valued?
While some roles and tasks are being eliminated by AI, there are still some valuable skills that recruiters, business owners, and managers look for in new employees.
“Those still worried about AI taking their jobs, or worse, preventing them from finding new ones, may take heart from Tech.co’s findings on the skills hiring managers consider most valuable in a new employee,” said Jennifer McIlveen.
Accordingly, skills such as communication, problem-solving and time management topped the list, with 98% of respondents saying these skills were at least moderately important in the recruitment process. People management (91%) and networking (90%) were also notable skills.
In particular, the skill set associated with AI in the workplace remains undervalued. In fact, only 43% of survey respondents said that AI expertise was an important factor in hiring decisions, the lowest score in Tech.co’s research.