These Jobs Most Likely Won’t Exist In Just 2 Years From Now, Says The Godfather Of AI
Experts aren't speaking out against AI to scare you. They're genuinely worried.
Zoran Zeremski | Shutterstock It’s easy to think your job will be safe from AI. Maybe you were considered an “essential worker” during the pandemic, or your job requires such specialized skills that it seems impossible to think a mere machine could take it over. Unfortunately, no matter how AI-proof you think your job is, Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI,” says you should think again.
Hinton won a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in the field of artificial intelligence and devoted 50 years of his life to convincing people that AI could work just like a human brain could. He developed cutting-edge technology that was acquired by Google and worked at the company for a decade before he left, so he could speak openly about what he saw as the very real, very imminent dangers of AI.
Hinton, the Godfather of AI, believes certain jobs will be out of the picture within two years, thanks to AI.
He sat down for an interview on "The Diary of a CEO" podcast, hosted by entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. As far as AI taking over jobs, Hinton is not optimistic. He explained that, in the past, new technology has allowed new jobs to develop. That’s not what he sees AI doing.
“I think for mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody,” he stated. AI won’t necessarily take over all jobs in the sense that no one will be doing them anymore, but because those doing the jobs will be assisted by AI, they’ll become more efficient, and there won’t need to be as many employees involved.
As for specific jobs, Hinton said, “I think plumbers are less at risk. Someone like a legal assistant, a paralegal, um, they’re not gonna be needed for very long.”
Hinton’s wisdom aligns with what other industry giants are warning about.
Some may think of Hinton as an alarmist, but other experts and organizations back up what he’s saying. According to a Fortune article by Preston Fore, Microsoft recently released a report that compared different professions’ “AI applicability scores.”
Fore noted that the jobs most likely to be affected by AI are those “that involve knowledge work.” So, basically, exactly what Hinton said. The top five jobs Microsoft researchers believe will be most affected by AI are interpreters and translators, historians, passenger attendants, sales representatives of services, and writers and authors.
In another episode of "The Diary of a CEO," Bartlett spoke with Dr. Roman Yampolskiy, a professor of computer science and engineering, considered the leading authority on AI safety. He believes we are headed towards a world that will have 99% unemployment. “That is not even a question if it’s possible,” he said. “It’s like, how soon before you’re fired?”
People are still skeptical about the possibility of AI taking over their jobs.
Threads user @teddy.hollywood shared Microsoft’s list of jobs that are most likely to be replaced by AI. One commenter was surprised to see historians so high on the list. “Historians?” they asked. “Knowing historical facts and being able to critically analyze them are two different things. We will always need experts to study and analyze historical periods and events.”
Mizuno K | Pexels
Similarly, Dr. Yampolskiy noted that when he asks people if they are worried about AI taking over their job, they typically say no. This makes sense. No one wants to believe that their job will be the one that is cut because of AI. Everyone wants to believe that their job is somehow magically safe. But, according to experts, that’s just not the case.
The World Economic Forum stated that 92 million jobs will be replaced by AI by the time we reach 2030. And, thanks to Microsoft, we know there’s a wide array of jobs that will be replaced; the revolution is not specific to one industry. It’s important for people to learn how to adapt to new technologies now so they are prepared for what’s to come.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
