About two months ago, a technological bomb was dropped, and AI went from a theoretical science to what’s always been promised to us. In ChatGPT we finally have a product, free to use, that acts and thinks like an expert human being. This is a revolution. Spend just a few minutes using it and you will quickly realize that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to completely change the way we live and work. As with all technological changes, many jobs are at risk of being impacted by this. But, not all jobs are equally vulnerable to the immediate effects of AI. In this article, we'll take a closer look at which of America's most common 50 jobs according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and assess which are most and least likely to be impacted by AI in the next 12 months.
Section 1: Jobs Most at Risk of Being Impacted by AI
First, let's cover the jobs that are most likely to be impacted by AI. These are the jobs that require the most organizing and interpreting of written or oral information. The following jobs top the list:
• Data analyst • Accountant • Data entry clerk • Technical writer (and other writing that is less creative) • Software developer • Financial analyst • Medical transcriptionist • Legal secretary • Human resources specialist • Customer service representative • Technical support specialist • Paralegal • Medical billing specialist
It's worth noting that I assumed that graphical models like Dall-E are not yet as advanced as written language models like ChatGPT. Therefore, jobs with a large graphical component will not be impacted for the next 12 months. However, I believe they will be more impacted in the coming years as graphical production becomes more optimized. Jobs that might be impacted in this next phase are:
• Graphic designer • Marketing specialist • Event planner • Most engineering jobs
One specific example of a job that is under threat is that of a Technical Writer. The job of a technical writer is to communicate complex technical information clearly and accurately to a non-technical audience. However, now with a simple prompt to ChatGPT, such as "Please summarize this in more simple language", you can get incredible technical writing. And unlike a human technical writer who usually must commit to one certain audience, ChatGPT can communicate at any level from expert to 5 year old, at any level of detail, in virtually any format. If you’re a technical writer, you either want to master this technology quickly or consider a career change, pronto.
Section 2: Jobs Least at Risk of Being Impacted by AI
Now, let's take a look at the jobs that are least likely to be impacted by AI in the near term. These are the jobs that have characteristics such as having much of their work done outside, require detailed one-on-one nuanced emotional work, or involve a lot of physical activity, manual dexterity, or travel. The following jobs are at the top of this list:
• Physical therapist • Occupational therapist • Speech therapist • Retail salesperson • Home health aide • Radiologic technologist • Security guard • Janitor and cleaner • Cashier • Food server • Truck driver
It's worth noting that some of these jobs, such as cashiers, truck drivers, and food servers are already being impacted by other technologies such as self-checkout, self-driving cars, and food ordering consoles.
Of course, these are just the most common jobs. Many other jobs like lawyers, screenwriters, and more will be dramatically impacted over the coming months and years. While many jobs will be at risk, it's important to remember that new jobs will also be created as a result of this technological change. Just think: thirty years ago, there was no such thing as a social media analyst and we couldn’t even conceive of such a job. AI will bring similarly surprising jobs that we can currently not even fathom.
The advent of AI is the biggest technological revolution of the last few decades. It's important to be prepared for what's to come. Hang on for an incredible ride!