How To Make Sure The Future Work-place Still Needs You
We have all seen the post-apocalyptic, futuristic depiction of a dystopian world where AI powered robots have succeeded humans and where robots have become the dominant beings on the planet. We’ve seen films like Terminator where the battle between humanity and humans is still being fought and we’ve seen films like the matrix where the battle has been won by robots and humans have become subservient slaves to the machine.
But, most of us see this as fantasy and don’t draw the link between these films and our every-day lives but things are beginning to change. Three esteemed, global figures and have come out and spoke about the threat of AI. Both Bill Gates and Steve Wozniack, (who should really know what they are talking about), have both expressed alarm at the threat posed by the growing power and prominence of modern computers and their current ability to replace humans in the work-place. Professor Stephen Hawkins has also entered the debate – along with a team of scientists – warning that in the short-term AI could put millions of people out of work, and in the long term could become more intelligent than humans.
Does this all sound a little bit too sci-fi channel for you? Well, maybe you will be more convinced by a more grounded study from the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University. In a very grounded and down to earth study, they have performed detailed analyses of over 700 current jobs and found that 47% of current jobs will be replaced in whole or in part by robots or computer automation in the next 10 to 20 years.
There’s nothing fantastic or paranoid about it, as the signs are already here. For example the study predicts that there is a 97% chance that cashiers will be replaced by robot checkouts in 10 years, and there is evidence of this happening as most supermarkets now have a bank of computer automated check-outs. It’s surely not hard to see that the future won’t need human cashiers.
Or what about taxi drivers which have a 90% chance of being replaced by computer automated cars in the future? Does this sound impossible? It shouldn’t as ‘Kit’ from knightrider is now a reality. Google have a small fleet of prototype, computer driven, self-driving cars, currently driving safely around Silicon Valley. Self-driving cars will soon negate the need for taxi drivers, delivery drivers, and even driving instructors as people choose self-driving cars over self-driving.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the Oxford Martin Study outlines 100s of jobs that are at risk of extinction in the future, and you might want to take a look to see if your current career path is at risk of extinction and whether the future work-place still needs you.
This may all sound a little bleak, as if you are staring down the barrel of the gun, but there is a silver lining in that there are plenty of jobs that will be needed in the near future as they can not easily be replaced by robots. These are the more humanistic jobs which require judgement, emotional empathy etc.. such as teaching, therapy (physical and mental), nursing, sales, arts, creative, editorial, so there are plenty of occupational areas you can move into to make sure the future work-place still needs you.
And if you find these jobs are not your cup of tea, take a look at the list here as there are plenty of other occupational areas that will still be in great demand in 10 or 20 year’s time.
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