In 2013, a study by Oxford University called The Future of Employment examined 702 common occupations and found that some jobs – telemarketers, tax preparers and sports referees, are more at risk than others like psychologists, dentists and physicians. But are there any jobs you didn’t anticipate might be at risk?
Journalists are already churning out content written by PR and marketing professionals. They are often understaffed, overworked and the expectation for free content that the new media has created means there is less time and resources being distributed for quality research.
Advanced developments in artificial intelligence software mean that soon enough even writing won’t be a problem for AI, and in some cases it’s already been possible to use it for purposes such as creating quarterly reports. Combine that with the fact that most articles nowadays are largely based on press releases with little input from the professional journalists and this suggests that in the future content could be created with any human input at all.
Law remains one of the more desired courses for ambitious young people who want to ensure they will have a stable and reputable job when they walk out of university. That being said, in the next 20 years it might be only the experienced and well educated lawyers who have jobs.
Roles such as paralegal and legal assistants face a 94% probability of having their job computerized and could become extinct with robots taking over the more repetitive tasks. According to a recent study by Deloitte, more than 100,000 jobs (or 39% of the jobs) in the legal sector have a high chance of being automated in the next 20 years.
A study done by Bloomberg analysts in late 2015 discovered that only 10% of the stocks traded on a daily basis worldwide, are traded by actual humans and investors. The rest is AI.
Interesting facts about the automation of the stock market?Let’s say you want to buy a particular stock. You go to your favorite trading platform or secured portfolio management dashboard, you fill in the info with how much you want to buy at a trading price and hit “buy”. In the time it takes for the single to reach the servers and approve the order, the AI has already realized you’re going to purchase that stock. They bought it for themselves, traded it between themselves and then sold it to you at a bigger price. That is something a human would simply not be able to do.
We have already heard that driverless cars are becoming increasingly popular in the tech world and taxi drivers may soon be out of work. But how do you feel about your plane not having a pilot?
As early as 2016, the New York Post was already reporting that pilots were likely to find their jobs on the chopping block, thanks to competition from robots. Autopilot features have long supported pilots in the air—in fact, pilots generally assume control of their airplanes only during takeoff and landing. Those two tasks, however, are being taught to their mechanical competitors, and it’s likely that both humans and cargo will soon be shuttled around in pilotless planes.
Protecting our nature has been more important than ever, however, how we approach that task is likely to change. While developing, maintaining and protecting forests remains necessary, many of the tasks performed by forest and conservation workers—such as tree counting and identifying—can now be done by new technologies, such as remote sensing.
That means fewer people will be necessary to accomplish the same amount of work. On the other hand, the increasing frequency of wildfires may fuel greater demand for these workers because only they can prevent—and suppress—forest fires.
How can you prepare yourself for the change that’s coming?
It is vital to keep adopting new skills, learning about new technology and understanding the roles that will emerge and prevail in the future.
So what skills should you invest in?
Justin Tobin, founder of the innovation consultancy DDG, says he believes: “More and more independent thinkers are realizing that when being an employee is the equivalent to putting all your money into one stock – a better strategy is to diversify your portfolio. So you’re seeing a lot more people looking to diversify their career.”
