young Al128 will be joining university student ranks next year …
She is unsure on what to study … and tbh I am mildly concerned about the AI onslought that is fully setting in and rendering some “studies” pretty much worthless overnight (e.g. language translation, copy writer, graphics design) …
What are your thoughts on carreers that should be faring better with regards to the AI reality that will hit hard over the next few years … and which ones might be obsolete (or very diminished) before she receives her degree?
I recon - there will be a lot of guessing going on - but I’d def. be interested in hearing informed opinions.
Anybody in a similar situation w/in their friends and familiy setting?
I have a son who also will be going off to college next year. He is an excellent programmer, and is embracing AI. He wants to study applications for applying AI to improve medical diagnostic systems. At least, he’s leaning that way.
As for what future career paths may be more AI-proof than others, other people who are more knowledgeable than me will probably give better answers, but it may help if you share what your career-related interests and inclinations are. My example of my son wanting to work within the AI industry as a programmer is of no use to you if you have no interest in computer programming or software development.
I have heard that whole careers will spring up that support the AI industry, careers that we can really only guess at now. For example, to give some thoughts as to your examples of careers that may be ‘worthless’:
Language translation: yes, AI is getting very good at this, but a human will still need to proof what AI comes up with for accuracy, proper idiom usage, etc.
Copy writer: a human will need to formulate the proper outline or questions to ask the AI to get the desired info, and thoroughly fact-check it (AI is notoriously bad at distinguishing fact from fiction right now).
Graphic design: Humans will probably all be ‘art directors’, directing the AIs what to create and telling what to change, rather than graphic designers themselves.
Good luck! This is an uncertain transitional time, for sure. For an aging web developer like myself, I’m just hoping I can retire in a few years before the AIs come to take my job. But for young people just starting out in their careers, I’m sure there will be many exciting opportunities we don’t even know about yet. My current job didn’t even exist until I was an adult already graduated from college.
I’m a big believer in the potential of AI and am gratified at the way it’s maturing and becoming more mainstream. But I’m also an optimist, and I think much of the gloom and doom about how AI is going to take away jobs is largely misplaced. Human creativity will always prevail, and if AI leads it into different avenues, we’ll be the richer for it, much as the advent of photography never killed the art of painting, but created new styles of it while making photography a new art form in itself.
I’ve also never bought into the idea of the undergraduate years at university as a training ground for a career. It is for some, but many students change direction before either moving on to post-graduate studies or going into the job market.
My advice here isn’t going to be about the technology of AI. It’s that young Al128 should pursue what interests her, especially if there are subjects that she feels passionate about. Life is too short and career paths far too uncertain to be formulating mercenary career plans at this stage. She should enjoy her university years, and if she’s going to pick a major, she should major in what she loves.
don’t worry - the call will be hers, not mine … but I’d like to help here make a (somewhat) informed decision …
also I reckon that a significant % of people do not work in the line of business that they studied (around 1/3rd by var. studies)
But let’s ask AI about the topic:
While AI and automation are expected to impact a wide range of industries and job roles, some careers are likely to be less susceptible to automation due to the nature of their work, which involves tasks that are challenging for AI to replicate. These careers often require complex human skills, creativity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking. Here are some job careers that are likely to be least impacted by AI:
1. Healthcare Professionals:
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers require expertise in diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient care, which involve complex decision-making and human interaction.* 2. Therapists and Counselors:
Providing emotional support and therapy to individuals involves empathy, understanding, and emotional intelligence, which are difficult for AI to replicate.* 3. Creative Professions:
Artists, writers, designers, and musicians rely on creativity, originality, and artistic expression, which are challenging for AI to duplicate.* 4. Social Workers:
Social workers deal with complex human issues, such as child welfare, mental health, and family dynamics, requiring empathy and nuanced judgment.* 5. Teachers and Educators:
Teaching involves personalized instruction, motivation, and adaptability to students’ individual needs, which are areas where human teachers excel.* 6. Skilled Trades:
Jobs like plumbers, electricians, and carpenters require hands-on skills, adaptability to different situations, and problem-solving abilities that are challenging for AI to perform.* 7. Research Scientists:
Conducting innovative research, formulating hypotheses, and designing experiments involve high-level critical thinking and creativity.* 8. Legal Professionals:
Lawyers, judges, and legal experts engage in complex reasoning, argumentation, and understanding of legal nuances, which are difficult for AI to fully replace.* 9. Senior Leadership and Strategic Roles:
High-level executives, CEOs, and strategic planners rely on decision-making, leadership, and vision, which involve a deep understanding of human behavior and organizational dynamics.* 10. Skilled Artisans:
Craftsmen and craftswomen who create custom, artisanal products often require unique skills and expertise that are not easily automated.*
It’s important to note that while these careers are less susceptible to full automation, AI may still augment and enhance various aspects of these professions. Professionals in these fields may benefit from collaborating with AI tools and leveraging technology to improve their work rather than seeing AI as a threat to their careers. Additionally, the level of impact of AI on specific jobs can vary depending on factors like industry advancements and regional differences. Continuous learning and adaptability will remain essential for all professionals in the evolving job market.
My wife does translation (and other stuff, fortunately) and I’d guess the last holdouts requiring specialized human services will be medical, legal and government. There is also interpretation where, again, I’d suspect the final fields to change to AI services will be medical, legal and government. There’s enough riding on understanding language and context and enough potential backlash from “Well, we gave it to a computer…” that the stakes are higher than writing packaging copy or brochures.
Of course, with the rate things have been progressing, “last holdout” could be many years from now where it feels quaint to still have a person doing it to a few years from now. And it’ll be a tougher market since getting into medical/legal means understanding a whole lot of medical/legal terms so you can correctly translate them versus just “Hey, I know some Spanish…” (my wife has done both and both required certification processes).
as you correctly say - its not a digital “0” or “1” thing …
its just today - say - 1000 translators are bidding for 1000 translation jobs available …
next year it will be the same 1000 translators bidding for 500 jobs … and the year after for 100 jobs (all numbers completely pulled out of my anus )
I take part in some international “board of directors” (nothing too important - industry groups,…) … and the run-of-the-mill meetings have the standard “AI” closed captions running and doing the simultanious translations … again, those are scenarios where “good is good enough” … and its free and you dont have to have a break every 45 min for the translator to uncoil …
of course for an important meeting with UN, we still pull a real translator from beneath the rug …
and I’d hate for my little princess to be in debt AND not to have a perspective to land a job
btw - add on Q. how the heck are universities and dealing with all this???
Oh, sure. Though that “1000 Translators” will get winnowed down as just having fluency in the language isn’t enough and you need more specialized skills. Absolutely agreed that it will be an increasingly niche profession though. That and losing your translator job because you don’t have the skills to compete with AI on the more “casual” end is still losing your job. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone actually set out into higher education with the singular plan that “I’m going to be a legal translator when I grow up”.
And, of course, we get it wrong sometimes - ATMS actually increased the number of bank tellers (or at least, they did increase, not sure on causality) as banks opened many more branch locations.
I was absolutely stunned to read somewhere (don’t recall where) the prediction that mathematician would be the first learned profession that would disappear. I think whoever wrote it doesn’t have the faintest idea what mathematicians do. That said, there are some highly computational things that computers and AI can simplify.
If your kid likes AI, there will be a big demand for people who understand how to take advantage of them for specific jobs. AI consultants, prompt engineers, no doubt other AI related job categories will appear as we learn what to do with them.
Studying a major she likes, with a minor in an AI related field might work out well. The first rule should be to choose a career you woild enjoy. Then add in a side helping of knowledge of how to use AI systems. Be the one implementing AI in your job, not the person being replaced by it.
Yeah, I don’t think so. Certain applied math jobs are at risk: statistician, quant, etc. But pure math? Not for a long time. AI will probably be there helping, though.
I work in civil engineering and for the time being, at least, there are lots of things that we do that require (by law) the stamp of a registered professional engineer.
Certainly AI could conceivably come up with a design for something, and do modeling to demonstrate that the design is feasible, but an engineer still needs to sign off on it and stamp it. In order to do that, they need to understand what they’re looking at, and that requires education and professional development.
Lastly, when it comes to actually constructing what’s designed, an engineer often has to check the construction in the field to ensure that things are constructed per design, and not the contractor’s whim. Not sure that’s something AI can do for a long while yet.
the same is true (and will be) for all kinds of medical exams/treatments … just for liability and plausibility reasons, there will be a human being signing off.
but I have the feeling that out of 100 engineers/medical doctors maybe 20 might move into signing off, and 80 will be replaced*) by AI … of course that will vary extremely by specialization … (e.g. a kid’s doctor vs. pathologist analysing samples or interpreting x-rays or scans)
replaced*) might not mean “fired” … it might mean no new hire for a retired or “moved-on” professional, etc…
Is this perspective even more valid now, with the future job landscape likely to change significantly in the wake of rapidly advancing AI applications but in ways that will be unlikely to be well predicted?
The best way to train for a career of the future may not be to train for a career. Rather to develop a critical thinking and communication tool kit that can be adapted to different sorts of career options as they develop?
From a practical POV in any case, I think humans need for social connection is not going to be well met by AI for a long time. We may reach a point where consumers are willing to pay a premium for human provided services or even products, even if they are inferior by many objective quality measures…
Well exactly. Or listening to a live performance with its real time mistakes over a recording studio produced with errors edited out. And why we care that the lithograph is real and not a near identical print.
Maybe even more in the future as human skill in such things may become rarer.
I work in construction estimating and think there’s a long way to go before AI is doing my job. At least there would have to be a lot of changes in how plans are drawn and standardized given the amount of extrapolation and institutional knowledge involved between conflicting details, missing details, details spread onto other plan sets, etc. Then every architect/engineer firm has their own way of presenting it on the page and I just can’t see an AI pulling it off successfully any time soon. At least not until another AI is doing the design portion in a consistent and logical fashion.
I think you’d be surprised. I just saw a demo of GPT4V in which a person took a photo of some plans, then had GPT make up a parts list. Another one where a guy took a picture of his bicycle, then a picture of his toolbox, and asked GPT if he had the tool needed to adjust the handlebars. It gave him the correct answer. It recognized the bike, knew the size of the wrench needed, and identified it in his toolbox.
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