When 18^th century weavers were threatened by technological advancements, they started destroying new-fangled technological innovations that would put them out of their jobs and allow much less skilled, cheaper workers to take over. Every few years since then, the Luddite movement would reappear in one form or another, whenever some automation made skilled manual labour obsolete. In the 21^st century, the automation has gone far beyond ousting skilled workers. ALL human input or labour is about to become unnecessary. Should you worry? Should you prepare? Should you smash the nearest computer like a Luddite would a weaving machine? Read on to find out…

Relax. These days it will not be easy to replace any worker completely, simply because of the way our contracts have been drafted. Things are a little less rosy as far as future employment or guarantee of a job are considered in a longer time span. For instance, in just few years driverless cars will no doubt make the job of a “driver” unnecessary. Skills related to driving will not be monetizable commodity anymore. Does that mean that certain jobs will probably be in less demand in the coming years? Yes. Does that mean that some skills will be completely unnecessary? Also yes. However, there are some jobs – and skills – that will stay relevant no matter what.

 

Data from two biggest career sites, Glassdoor  and Indeed.com, was used by Business Insider’s industry expert Mariano Mamertino to come up with a list of nine truly AI-proof jobs on the basis of the salary, current and predicted popularity and machine intelligence limitations.

Data scientist

At GBP 55 000 per year, the person to understand and see patterns in data will be necessary at least throughout the coming year, and possibly many more to come. Machines are likely to overcome their current inability to understand the big picture like big-data analysts, but it’s the human experts creative approach to existing sets of big data that will put them ahead of the robotic pack.

Logistics and delivery experts

They earn GBP 43 000 annually, and despite what you think, cannot all be replaced by drones. Oversight and management of logistics, warehousing and supply chain is necessary and past data shows that these positions take longest to fill – they are always in demand.

HR

Amazingly, no human would probably like to be hired or fired by a robot. This is why specialists in this field, earning about GBP 36 000 in a year, will remain sought-after experts.

 

Cybersecurity specialist

There’s a boom of sorts going on in this corner of IT – there are large numbers of jobs but a lot fewer skilled workers to apply for them. Apparently malware, spyware and ransomware attacks caused the amount of job ads to skyrocket by 18 percent over the last year and a half.

Education and training specialist

If you need new skills to outcompete your robotic peer, then learn you shall. Teachers, especially those that combine online, offline and hybrid coursework, will be in high demand for years to come. Shame they only earn GBP 29 000 in a year, but that figure will inevitably rise.

Healthcare specialist

No matter what, humans are better caregivers in this environment. Medical applications that involve human interaction and taking care of the sick are very unlikely to be replaced by automata. Nurses and caregivers currently earn about GBP 27 000 annually, and there is always a job waiting for people willing to help others.

Chef

You’d think that with all the chemistry modelling and 3D printing a good meal would be an easy thing to replicate via machine, but that has not been the case. Chefs earn just about GBP 18 000 per year, but that’s a starting offer that can be negotiated depending on the quality of your cuisine.

 

So – is it all about the human touch?

Lee Rainie from the Pew Research Center says that „anything that involves dealing directly with the public and taking care of them, either their needs in health or other places,” will help save your future career. You should be fine, if what you do involves human touch or creativity, as it will be out of reach for the currently foreseen AI solutions and robots of the near future. But that’s not to say that if your job is a little less human-centric it will be the first to go!

You needn’t worry, though…

Joseph Aoun from Northeastern University explains that the advent of new robotic employees should be treated as something that frees us from the repetitive and uncreative aspects of our current jobs, letting us develop our positions to make use of our own creativity and empathy. We should rather strive to automate the least creative parts of our jobs by employing artificial intellect to do monotonous, boring or uncreative tasks. “Intelligent machines may liberate millions from routine labour, but there will remain a great deal of work for human beings to accomplish,” says Joseph. His thoughts are echoed by others in the industry. “AI, its relevance and outcome, will all be driven by you and me. It is a tool … It’s not a replacement for us, it will help and aid us,” says Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways and Coal.

 

Sink or swim

According to other experts, this is no longer a question of “pick the robot-free career”. Any human who wishes to stay employed should start focusing on developing skills that won’t be easy to automate at all – the strong suits of human mind and heart. In an increasingly complex reality that will not be an easy task, though. “People will have to learn for the rest of their lives to keep up with changing technology that will displace workers,” explains Jeff Maggioncalda, chief executive of MOOC, an online platform. The list of skills that should be trained and advanced continuously just to keep abreast of machine innovations includes creative thinking, ability to find patterns in data, ingenuity in problem-solving, people management expertise and emotional intelligence.

The last two will most be useful when dealing with humans, as is the case with medicine or teaching jobs above. This is something with which machines will no doubt have some trouble, at least until they develop full psychologies and emotional makeup of their own. It will make it easier for them to understand human emotions and empathize, but we’re still a ways off until that happens.

 

“No matter how “intelligent” an auto-response system can be, there’s no way to replicate the warmth and authenticity that a live customer service rep can offer,” says Rob Siefker, an exec at Zappos. It’s hard not to agree with him, but we may be rapidly approaching the world where the opposite will be a problem. When humans won’t be able to understand thoughts and emotions of AI, and it is our interaction with them that will appear crude and uncaring to the recipients. Who will be the most sought-after employee at that point? Stay tuned…

VOCABULARY

weaver – tkacz
to threaten sb – zagrozić komuś
advancements – postępy
new-fangled – nowomodny (arch., pot.)
to put sb out of their job – sprawić, że ktoś straci pracę
to take over – przejąć
Luddite – luddyta, luddystowski
to reappear – ponownie się pojawić
manual labour – praca fizyczna (UK)
obsolete – zbędny
to oust sb – wyprzeć kogoś, wypchnąć
input – wejście, tu: wkład, wysiłek
to smash sth – rozbić coś, rozwalić
these days – obecnie
to replace sb – zastąpić kogoś
to draft sth – sporządzić coś (dokument)
rosy – różowy (np. sytuacja, perspektywa)
as far as sth is considered – jeśli chodzi o coś
time span – okres czasu
driverless car – samochód automatyczny, samochód niewymagający kierowcy
no doubt – bez wątpienia
monetizable – dający się spieniężyć, na którym można zarobić
commodity – towar
in less demand – mniej potrzebny
relevant – tu: istotny, potrzebny
research – badanie, badania
to come up with sth – tu: stworzyć coś, ułożyć
X-proof – odporny na coś
salary – płaca
predicted – przewidywany
data scientist – analityk danych
pattern – wzorzec
to overcome sth – pokonać coś, przezwyciężyć
inability to do sth – niezdolność do (z)robienia czegoś
big picture – szeroki obraz sytuacji, szersza perspektywa
to put sb ahead of the pack – sprawić, że ktoś wysunie się na prowadzenie, będzie lepszy od pozostałych
annually – rocznie
oversight – nadzór
warehousing – magazynowanie
supply chain – łańcuch dostaw
to fill a position – znaleźć kogoś na dane miejsce, zapełnić dany wakat
amazingly,… – co niezwykłe…
sought-after – poszukiwany, potrzebny
of sorts – pewnego rodzaju
to apply for sth – zgłosić się na coś (ogłoszenie o pracę)
malware – złośliwe oprogramowanie
ransomware – oprogramowanie przejmujące kontrolę nad komputerem i wymagające opłaty dla cyberporywacza w celu oddania tej kontroli
to skyrocket – gwałtownie wzrosnąć
to outcompete sb – być bardziej konkurencyjnym pracownikiem od kogoś
peer – osoba równa, rówieśnik (lub osoba na tym samym stanowisku, poziomie itp.)
coursework – tu: nauka (przedmiotu)
inevitably – nieuchronnie
caregiver – opiekun, pielęgniarz
automaton – mechanizm, automat
chef – szef kuchni
chemistry – chemia
to replicate sth – skopiować coś
via – za pośrednictwem
sth is not the case – coś nie jest faktem, coś nie jest takie
starting offer – pierwsza oferta
depending on – w zależności od
cuisine – kuchnia, gotowanie
the public – ludzie, ogół społeczeństwa
creativity – kreatywność
out of reach – poza zasięgiem
foreseen – prognozowany
to be the first to go – być pierwszym do odstrzału/wywalenia
advent – nadejście
repetitive – monotonny
to develop sth – rozwijać coś
to make use of sth – wykorzystać coś
empathy – empatia
to strive to do sth – dążyć do (z)robienia czegoś, zabiegać o (z)robienie czegoś
to employ sth – zastosować coś, użyć
to liberate sb from sth – uwolnić kogoś od czegoś
routine – rutynowy
a great deal of sth – sporo czegoś, wiele
human being – istota ludzka
to accomplish – osiągnąć
to echo sb – powtarzać coś, być podobnego zdania, co ktoś
outcome – wynik
replacement – zastępstwo
sink or swim – wóz albo przewóz, nauczysz się lub poniesiesz porażkę
strong suit – mocna strona, atut
increasingly – coraz bardziej
complex – skomplikowany
to displace sb – usunąć kogoś, wyrzucić
to advance sth – rozwijać coś
to keep abreast of sth – być na bieżąco z czymś
ingenuity – pomysłowość, wynalazczość
expertise – biegłość, fachowość
makeup – skład, struktura
to empathize – rozumieć (kogoś, coś), wczuwać się (w czyjąś sytuację itp.)
to be a ways off from sth – być jeszcze daleko od czegoś
response – odpowiedź, reakcja
authenticity – autentyczność
customer service rep – przedstawiciel obsługi klienta
exec (executive) – dyrektor wyższego szczebla, menadżer
rapidly – szybko
opposite – przeciwieństwo
crude – prostacki, niewyrafinowany
uncaring – nieczuły
recipient – odbiorca

by Prochor Aniszczuk

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