The Jobs Artificial Intelligence Will Take Over First

Do you fear a robotic revolution? Well, a robotic revolution is currently underway, accelerated by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact across industries.

While we aren’t anticipating scenes akin to those in the movie iRobot any time soon, we stand on the brink of wholesale change in the job market. AI has taken huge strides forwards in recent years, placing a series of human workers at risk of facing the chop.

Surprisingly, it’s chefs and caterers who are most at risk given their work is an art form in its truest sense. That’s according to a study by RS online, which found that as many as 54% of workers in this sector could be out of a job by the year 2035 – a result of AI’s growing capabilities.

And 45% of those working in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector could also be at risk – emphasizing, again, that even those in creative work aren’t safe from the AI revolution. But they aren’t the only ones under fire.

The RS Online study also found that nearly 10 million roles are at risk of being replaced by AI within the next 15 years. According to the study, some:

• 45% of manufacturing roles are at risk
• 39% of construction workers could lose their jobs
• 34% of people in wholesale and retail trade could be replaced

Those are significant percentages, and workers in these sectors will rightly be worried by the findings. The study, however, also suggests that there may be a silver lining to the seemingly dark and brooding clouds of automation.  

Silver Lining for Workers Amidst AI Takeover & Automation

John Hawksworth, Chief Economist at PwC, noted that the advances of AI “could enable some workers to focus on higher value, more rewarding and creative work.” There may even be more of this work available, as increases in productivity and wealth brought by automation could “create additional jobs in less automatable parts of the economy”.

A few of these “less automatable” sectors are also highlighted in the study, revealing that:

• Only 9% of jobs in education are at risk 
• 79% of workers in health and social work could still keep their jobs
• 76% of those working in the legal profession are not deemed to be at risk

These are only forecasts up until 2035, of course – further advances in technology could see robot workers creeping into more and more job roles as the years go by.

The onus will now increasingly be on governments to protect those who lose their livelihoods due to the AI revolution.

If automation does create healthier, more efficient economies worldwide, how will this new-found wealth be shared? 

Most at Risk Jobs Due to AI Breakthroughs – Infographic

RS Online produced an insightful infographic capturing and breaking down all of the study highlights and notable statistics, packaging it into an easily digestible format to help make sense of the interesting numbers at play during this AI takeover.

Check out the infographic below for more about the jobs most at risk from AI and where your job and financial future could possibly be headed: