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A Princeton University study has identified 20 professions most at risk from artificial intelligence. Topping the list are call center operators, educators across various disciplines, and sociologists.
In recent years, we’ve seen a surge of AI tools that can tackle complex cognitive tasks. The arrival of the AI chatbot ChatGPT has raised questions about the future of many professionals who, until recently, felt secure in their jobs.
ChatGPT can take exams, deliver lectures, write programs, compose poetry, and even draft novels. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. That range of abilities has reignited fears that machines could “replace” human professionals—a concern that echoes the late 20th century, when automation began displacing workers.
Who’s First on the Chopping Block?
For their study, researchers developed an algorithm using AI tools to measure the level of automation across 800 professions.
Initially, the algorithm flagged 20 professions whose workers are most likely to shift parts of their workload to machines. Many of those jobs are well-paying and require considerable education, such as budget analysts, accountants, and judges.
However, when the team adjusted the algorithm to account for recent advances in AI language models, the list changed dramatically.
In the final ranking, call center workers face the highest risk of job loss. That result isn’t surprising: many companies are already using chatbots in those roles.
Fourteen of the 20 positions on the list are held by higher-education instructors in fields such as language, history, geography, religion, and sociology. Also at risk are sociologists, political scientists, arbitrators, judges, clinical psychologists, and school psychologists.
Other Perspectives on the Matter
Meanwhile, a research team at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland compiled its own ranking of professions that AI might take over. The team also identified occupations likely to be relatively safe.
Their list puts meat packers, cleaners, and construction workers among the most vulnerable to automation, while teachers, lawyers, and physicists are seen as safer roles, according to the Daily Mail.
Professor Raphael Lalive, the study’s lead author, says the main challenge for society is staying resilient in the face of automation.
Other research has pointed to cashiers, salespeople, drivers, train operators, programmers, DJs, musicians, designers, copywriters, journalists, authors, composers, coaches, police officers, and recruiters as professions at risk from artificial intelligence.
Researchers say that in an era of expanding automation, professionals need to reassess their skills, find untapped strengths, and learn new competencies.
