The rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence technology will fundamentally reshape almost every aspect of life, but the workplace may be the first to see dramatic changes.
A technology guru has made predictions about the jobs that may soon cease to exist, at least in a way that requires the services of human employees.
Last year, the World Economic Forum released a startling report warning that around 26 million jobs will be lost to AI technology over the next three years.
Nyusha Shafiabadi, associate professor of computational intelligence at Australian Catholic University's Peter Faber Business School, modeled the jobs most likely to be disrupted in the top three industries from an AI perspective.
They are education and health services, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.
work on the cutting board
Dr Shafiabadi said that in the education sector, people performing secretarial roles in schools and universities could be replaced by AI “relatively soon”.
Librarians and professionals who teach extracurricular activities such as music are also at risk.
“These can be done programmatically using a computer with a camera. You know, if there was an alternative to this, I'd probably take it.
“A computer program that shows kids how to play, teaches them all the principles a music teacher shows them, and at the same time corrects them during practice would be easier to use and probably cheaper.”
AI will make librarians obsolete, managing the circulation and publication of materials, advising on helpful resources, and even providing encyclopedic knowledge of the world beyond human insight, easily replicated by AI on the fly. There is a possibility that
“An obvious choice for a job in the health services field is the role of a receptionist in a clinic, which can be done in a much cheaper and hassle-free way with programs and computers,” Dr. Shafiabadi said.
But beyond that, she says, the roles of nutritionists, speech pathologists and even personal fitness trainers are at risk.
“All these tasks can be performed by a computer equipped with a camera, given by an intelligent program, and the same principles as shown in the music teacher example apply.”
In professional and business services, customer service representatives and fast food employees are most at risk, as are sales positions.
Major fast food chains across the country are already piloting the use of AI in their drive-thrus, replacing humans with verbal chatbots to take orders quickly and accurately.
Local experts have previously said it was only a matter of time before similar technology was adopted in Australia.
Another job at risk is the public relations profession, she said.
“AI algorithms have the ability to replicate these tasks; for example, public relations professionals manage communications and promote an organization's public image.
“AI algorithms can examine these through the inputs they receive and objectively achieve their objectives. [at] Various groups to promote your organization or clients.
“The same principles apply to public sales reps. [customer’s] Activity history can also be tracked, allowing for smart, targeted product sales. ”
Finally, in the leisure and hospitality industry, hotel concierges could become a thing of the past as AI will be able to replicate the majority of tasks.
Need advice on where to go for dinner in the city you're visiting? Want to get tickets to a theater show? Get disoriented and need easy directions? , even human-looking robots can do all this and more.
Travel agencies have already been significantly disrupted in the internet age, with simple and free booking portals and direct shopping becoming the norm over the past few decades.
The use of AI will only accelerate the wholesale replacement of those jobs, Dr. Shafiabadi said.
Similarly, the role of event planner can quickly become obsolete.
“Computer programs with access to data relevant to all of these roles can capture information, process it, and make decisions based on people's priorities faster and in some cases better than humans. Masu.”
He said people working in industries and professions most likely to be affected by AI should start thinking about ways to reduce risk now.
“We should start thinking strategically and learn future skills to protect ourselves. Our ancestors have gone through these changes many times in history, including the Industrial Revolution. It’s our turn to do the same.”
Wider impact on the workplace
Even if your job appears to be safe, at least for a while, AI will not only replace humans but will have broader implications.
A team of researchers from New Zealand's Massey University and the University of Queensland investigated the rapid uptake of AI in the human resources sector.
More and more companies are turning to technology to streamline and speed up their recruiting efforts.
Automated screening of resumes submitted by applicants for open positions is already occurring at scale.
In some cases, applications may be filtered before reaching humans. This means that any application that the AI determines is below zero level will be immediately discarded.
Under analysis conversation“AI in recruitment promises to improve objectivity and efficiency in the hiring process by eliminating human bias and increasing fairness and consistency in decision-making.
“However, our research shows that AI can subtly and sometimes overtly increase bias. And the involvement of HR professionals may exacerbate rather than alleviate these effects.” There is a gender.
“This calls into question our belief that AI can be contained and suppressed through human oversight.”
AI language sets already have built-in biases, given that they are informed by human behavior and communication.
“For example, in countries where men and women have different lengths of military service, AI could infer gender based on length of military service,” the researchers suggested.
So even roles that cannot be replicated by technology may have some impact with AI intervention at the very early stages of adoption.
lots of risks, lots of rewards
Kylie Walker, CEO of the Australian Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering, said there were many potential benefits, but not without guardrails.
“Raised adoption of AI could add $200 billion a year to the Australian economy, but we need to quickly introduce strong measures to protect these sectors and put Australia at the forefront of AI development.” That's important,” Ms Walker said.
“By investing further in local AI innovation, we simultaneously create new AI industries and jobs here in Australia and reduce our reliance on internationally developed and maintained systems.”
But building public trust in AI will be a long and difficult process, experts say.
A study by the University of Queensland and consultancy KMPG found that two-thirds of people are reluctant to trust AI or are ambivalent about its use.
“However, trust and acceptance will depend on AI applications,” the report notes.
“For example, the use of AI in healthcare is more trusted than the use of AI for human resources purposes. People tend to trust the capabilities and usefulness of AI systems, but they also tend to trust their safety, security, and fairness. I'm more skeptical about.
“Many people feel ambivalent about the use of AI, reporting optimism and excitement alongside fear and worry.”
University of the Sunshine Coast computer science lecturer Erica Mealy said it was natural for people to be nervous.
“AI systems are trained on data sets that are incomprehensibly large, using sophisticated mathematics that most people cannot understand,” Dr. Mealy explained in the analysis. conversation.
“They give us results we have no way of verifying. Even flagship, state-of-the-art systems produce error-riddled output.
“ChatGPT seems to be becoming less accurate over time. Even at its best, it can't tell you how many characters are in the word 'strawberry.' Meanwhile, Google's Gemini chatbot recommended putting glue on pizza, among other comical missteps. ”
Last month, the federal government released voluntary AI safety standards along with a discussion paper calling for stronger regulation of the technology.
At the time, Minister of Industry and Science Ed Husik declared, “We need more people to use AI, and to do that we need to build trust.”
Dr. Mealey criticized that stance, given the public's understandable sense of alarm.
“The evidence for further use of it seems very weak, and also potentially dangerous,” she said.
Dr Mealey said the government's own research showed that apart from risks ranging from security to basic safety, the promise of AI was far from being fulfilled.
She said the research showed that “humans are more effective, more efficient and more productive than AI” and called on supporters to “cancel blind hopes”.
