Economists and scientists alike are warning that in this new decade, artificial intelligence will be replacing many humans in the labour market. In a new research carried out by economists at MIT and Boston University, they argue that at least 2 million more human jobs will be replaced by robots and AI in the next five years. As the world continues to look for faster and more accurate ways to get things done, artificial intelligence is poised to take over even more human jobs. From healthcare to construction to the banking sector, no industry will be spared as advancement in machine learning and robotic swell. In an article on Springboard Blog, they discourse some of the jobs at risk of being taken over by artificial intelligence.
See five jobs at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence as discussed in the article below:
Truck Drivers
According to Frontline, two main factors currently stand as a hurdle to employing truck drivers in a way that’s both scalable and efficient long-term. The primary goal is to move towards a reduction in road accidents – a pain point that AI and automated driving could seriously help solve. Secondly, “the ability to eliminate human drivers is also an appealing prospect for companies eager to cut costs and maximize efficiency — including by moving freight 24/7: ‘Right now, human drivers are limited to 11 hours by federal law, and a driverless truck obviously wouldn’t have that limitation.”
Retail
The rise of Jeff Bezos and the Amazon empire already poses a threat to retail giants such as Target and Walmart. With retail stores looking to cut costs, AI checkout stations, shelf stockers, and inventory checks offer a cheaper alternative to hiring employees. This leaves more space for big box stores to invest in superior customer service and emphasize other areas that online retailers can’t compete with.
Manufacturing
With the presidential election coming up later this year, it’s common to hear politicians make promises of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. from overseas markets – but given the state of jobs may not be brought back at all. If anything, they’ll simply transform with the help of AI replacement. Currently, China has the biggest market for manufacturing jobs, but even they are not immune to the technological revolution: the manufacturing giant, Foxconn, recently replaced 60,000 employees with robotic alternatives.
Editing and Proofreading
Would you be concerned if we told you that this entire article was edited by a robot? It wasn’t, but AI could likely replace editors in a few years. Companies have already started using AI to generate business reports so it’s feasible that AI begins to edit documents faster and more accurately than humans are capable of. We’ve already seen an entire generation rely on spellcheck to revise their essays and apps like Grammarly are advancing writing software even further.
Telemarketing
Aside from our parents, it seems the only people who call anymore are robots to report that you could receive a lower interest rate on a credit card or an automated message telling you that the CIA and FBI have filed a joint-warrant for my arrest. Robo-calls are becoming increasingly common which makes people even less likely to purchase from telemarketers. The entire telemarketing industry could likely be erased in the next decade, as AI helps it to transform into something informative and potentially – helpful.