AI at work: Which roles are being replaced – and which are rising?

The rise of AI, or artificial intelligence, isn’t unprecedented. In fact, we should’ve seen this coming ever since Deep Blue, developed by IBM, was able to defeat a world chess champion. While the development of AI has been nothing short of promising since the early 1980s to 1990s, what the modern workforce didn’t see coming is that AI isn’t just making our jobs easier—it might be taking them away, too.

In this article, let’s dive into how AI is impacting the modern workforce. Which jobs are getting replaced by AI, and which ones are rising?

Jobs AI is replacing

Customer Service Representatives

With technological innovations, customers are expecting more prompt customer care responses from organizations. For this to be possible, a 24/7 workforce augmentation for customer service representatives is required, which would result in higher labor costs for businesses. With the entry of AI in the field, businesses can lower labor costs and increase customer response efficiency by utilizing AI chatbots, which provide quick 24/7 responses and offer more personalized recommendations and experiences for customers, building customer loyalty.

Nicolas Breedlove, CEO at PlaygroundEquipment.com, said, “While AI won’t immediately replace all customer representative jobs, it will surely take away work opportunities from customer service agents as businesses transition into AI-powered automations for business efficiency and cost savings.”

Administrative Roles

What AI excels at the most is doing repetitive, laborious tasks quickly through automated processes powered by machine learning. It is capable of processing vast amounts of data rapidly and precisely, making administrative tasks such as data organization, data entry, and information collection and organization easier with a single click.

Some clear examples of how AI permeated into administrative roles are as follows:

Calendar and Scheduling: The current market features AI technology and websites that focus on automating calendar organization, finding and scheduling meeting slots, streamlining calendars across various project management tools, and sending reminders.
Email, communication, and writing: Generative AI tools can quickly provide email templates and draft content through a detailed prompt to an AI system, such as ChatGPT.

Content Writers

Content writers are also—or already are—at risk of losing their jobs over AI. Generative AI tech allows users to create content, images, simulations, and audio through a prompt, as AI trainers or developers aim for AI to replicate human language. ChatGPT, for AI content, and Canva, with its AI image generator, are prime examples of how businesses utilize Generative AI to produce content instead of relying on actual humans.

Remember how everyone used to say a few months back that the use of em-dashes (—) indicates that the content is most probably ‘AI-made’? Guess what—Grammarly, an AI-powered writing assistant, now corrects or suggests the lesser use of em-dashes, indicating that AI is learning—and it is learning fast.

Leigh McKenzie, Community Advocate at Traffic Think Tank, shares insight on the impact of AI in content marketing and SEO: “Ever since AI has permeated the digital marketing industry, there have been mixed reactions about using AI, or ChatGPT in particular, for generating website and marketing content—some are for it, while others emphasize how AI-generated materials are nothing but plagiarized content.” He adds, “AI-generated content is also generally bad for SEO as it lacks originality, and may be based on inaccurate information on the internet.”

Drivers

Drivers are also at risk of losing their jobs to self-driving vehicles. Today, most modern cars are equipped with ADAS, or automated driver assistance systems, that help drivers with parking, lane keeping assistance, and collision avoidance. Driverless commercial trucks are also being used today, especially for long-haul routes.

Adrian Iorga, Founder & President at 617 Boston Movers, says, “Driverless trucks and autonomous vehicles, while beneficial for most businesses, definitely pose a threat to individuals making a living through truck driving.” He adds, “Despite presenting safety reports, businesses should not rely on AI and systems alone for activities that could endanger so many road users.”

Factory and Warehouse Roles

With AI championing the automation of repetitive and laborious tasks, the trend in manufacturing businesses is to transition to AI-driven systems, machinery, and robotics to automate manufacturing and factory-related processes. Some examples are:

Lacey Jarvis, COO at AAA State of Play, shares insights on the automation processes involved in the manufacturing industry, “Rockwell Automation reports on its study on the 10th Annual State of Manufacturing that 95% of surveyed manufacturing leaders have either invested or planned to invest in AI and Machine Learning, Generative AI or causal AI in the next five years.” She adds, “Especially with companies manufacturing playground equipment and other heavy-duty equipment, companies are looking more into investing in robotics and automation that would make manufacturing and transport of these larger items easier.”

Finance Roles

Surprisingly, AI is also bound to take over the finance industry sooner than we think. While automated systems can’t replace the critical thinking and analytical skills needed by businesses from Accountants, Financial Analysts, and CFOs that rely on expert judgment and real life business understanding to interpret and make business decisions and promote smart business growth, AI will most likely take over rank and file jobs which includes tasks in data entry, transaction processing, report generation, data and predictive analytics, and fraud detection.

Some examples of how AI is used in the finance industry include:

Risk Management: Advanced financial analytics and credit assessment for lending companies.
Efficiency and Accuracy of Accounting Books: Use of AI-powered financial systems for close management, automated reconciliation, compliance, and streamlined accounting operations.
Forecasting and trend analysis: Use of mathematical models for predictive analytics, identifying existing patterns to predict future outcomes in terms of financial and market data.

Rising jobs because of AI

If jobs are declining or losing value due to AI, some jobs are experiencing a massive surge in demand as a result. Unsurprisingly, most—if not all—of these jobs are AI-related, encompassing areas such as training, ethics, and machine learning. Here are some examples:

Machine Learning Engineers: These individuals are the primary driving force behind AI systems. They design algorithms using data sets that are responsible for building the structure of AI systems. Their primary goal is to ensure that an AI system can successfully perform a specific task based on its set of algorithms.

AI Trainer: This role is tasked with helping AI systems become effective and efficient for customer use. This includes preparing AI training models and ensuring that AI responses are accurate, from cleaning and organizing training data to shaping conversational workflows and ensuring that AI systems are beneficial for end-users.

AI Ethics Officer: Also known as AI Ethicists, individuals in this role ensure that AI systems, from their development to operation, align with moral values, ethics, and societal norms. They help develop guidelines and standards that ensure AI integrates ethical considerations into its systems at every stage of development.

Be prepared to embrace AI and boost your skills

It is an indisputable fact that AI is gradually taking over jobs that primarily involve data entry, analysis, customer service, assembly, content creation, and basic financial functions, while simultaneously creating new jobs that support these AI systems in operation.

The million-dollar question is: Will AI completely replace an entire workforce? The short answer: no. While AI serves its benefits—from automation, efficiency, and cost savings—the primary goal of AI in today’s society is to supplement human work, not replace it. However, today’s workforce should be prepared to embrace, adapt, and augment their skills to meet modern technological needs, particularly in the context of AI.