It's no secret that AI already poses a threat to several human jobs. There have already been cases where generative AI took over someone's job, resulting in them being laid off. Now, study shows skilled or white-collar jobs will be the most affected field when it comes to an AI revolution.
AI in White Collar Jobs
The more advanced AI systems get, the clearer it has become how capable AI technology can be in performing tasks just as efficiently as humans do, if not better. This threatens several jobs for humans, but experts say that skilled jobs might be affected the most.
These jobs include those that are in the medical, law, and finance fields, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These professions account for 27% of employment in 38 member countries, as mentioned in Interesting Engineering.
As you notice, these jobs are usually the ones that require years of education as well as experience to reach the level of professionalism required for the job. These years of knowledge can now easily be sets of data that can be fed to artificial intelligence.
The OECD warned that it was clear that the potential for AI substitution remains significant, which "raises fears of decreasing wages and job losses." As machines become more reliable in handling data and can cost significantly less, companies will be inclined to prefer using AI.
The result of the OECD survey on AI use in manufacturing and finance sectors also indicates the urgency of creating policies or regulations, which will "allow countries, firms, and individuals to benefit from AI whole addressing risks."
With its fast-paced advancement and increasingly lower cost, AI tools are bound to become a huge part of several industries, which, as pointed out by the OECD, could fundamentally change the workplace.
Can AI Really Take Over Skilled Jobs?
In the future, it's very possible. But right now, with the current progress of AI, not yet. The AI models that exist now could handle crunching numbers and maybe even generate simple codes, but they still can't handle complex professions in the medicine and law sector.
Take the lawyer who used ChatGPT to cite cases for a legal briefing. The chatbot fabricated cases while using the real names of existing judges. The lawyer eventually found out that the cases did not exist in court, which resulted in him paying a $5,000 fine.
Generative AI is not yet advanced enough to completely discern fact from fiction, which could cause disastrous or even fatal outcomes in medical fields and legal matters. However, this gives tech leaders and governments plenty of time to establish rules and regulations for the use of AI.
The European Union is already working on such rules and policies. Upon approval, it will become the first one on artificial intelligence. Other than threats to jobs, it will also ensure the privacy and safety of users and people in general by banning biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, and more.
