The professional skills that artificial intelligence still can’t replicate

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Amid the debate over replacing workers with artificial intelligence, experts say there are some roles that computers won’t take over — at least for now. Experts say there are some types of work that artificial intelligence can’t do — yet GETTY IMAGES/via BBC Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, threats have been looming that new machines — from mechanized looms to microchips — could take over human jobs. For the most part, humans got the upper hand. But now we can already see ubiquitous artificial intelligence on the horizon. And experts say this threat is becoming a reality: robots really are coming to take over some of human jobs. A report by the financial group Goldman Sachs, published in 2023, estimates that artificial intelligence capable of generating content can do a quarter of all the work currently performed by human beings. According to the report, 300 million jobs could be lost to automation across the European Union and the United States. The consequences could be disastrous, according to Martin Ford, author of Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything. “It’s not something that can just happen individually, it can be quite systemic,” he says. “It can happen to a lot of people, maybe suddenly, maybe to everyone at once. And it has consequences not just for those individuals, but for the entire economy.” Fortunately, it’s not all bad news. Experts make a caveat: there are still things that artificial intelligence cannot do – tasks that involve clearly human qualities, such as emotional intelligence and creative thinking. Therefore, moving to roles centered on these skills can help reduce the chances of being replaced by artificial intelligence. “I think there are three general categories that are going to be relatively protected for the foreseeable future,” says Ford. “First, the genuinely creative jobs. You’re not doing predictable work, you’re not just rearranging things. You’re genuinely coming up with new ideas and building something new.” Robots may provide faster diagnosis of certain illnesses, but patients still want to be informed and guided by human beings GETTY IMAGES/via BBC That doesn’t necessarily mean that all jobs deemed “creative” are safe. In fact, activities like graphic design and the visual arts may be among the first to disappear. Basic algorithms can guide a robot to analyze millions of images, allowing artificial intelligence to instantly master aesthetics. But there is some safety in other kinds of creativity, according to Ford: “In science, medicine and law … people whose jobs generate new legal or business strategies. I think there will continue to be a place there for human beings.” The second protected category, according to Ford, is jobs that require sophisticated interpersonal relationships. It highlights nurses, business consultants and investigative journalists. For him, these are jobs “where you need a very deep understanding of people. I think it’s going to be a long time before artificial intelligence has the ability to interact in a way that really builds relationships.” The third safe zone, in Ford’s opinion, is “jobs that really require a lot of mobility, agility and problem-solving ability in unpredictable environments.” Many jobs in the service sector — electricians, plumbers, welders, etc. — fit this classification. “These are types of jobs where you’re dealing with a new situation all the time,” he adds. “They’re probably the hardest to automate. To automate jobs like this, you’d need a sci-fi robot. You’d need C-3PO from Star Wars.” While jobs that fall into these categories will likely continue to be filled by humans, that doesn’t mean these professions are entirely safe from the rise of artificial intelligence. In fact, according to labor economics professor Joanne Song McLaughlin at the University of Buffalo in the United States, most jobs, regardless of industry, have aspects that are likely to be automated by technology. For her, “in many cases, there is no immediate threat to jobs, but tasks will change”. Human jobs will become more focused on soft skills, according to McLaughlin. Service-sector and highly mobile jobs are likely to be more protected from automation GETTY IMAGES/via BBC “It’s easy to imagine, for example, that artificial intelligence will detect cancer much better than humans,” she explains. “In the future, I imagine doctors will use this new technology. But I don’t think the entire role of the doctor will be replaced.” McLaughlin says that while a robot might ostensibly do a better job of diagnosing cancer, most people will still want a doctor — a real person — to inform them. She adds that this is true for almost any job, so developing distinctly human skills could help people learn to do their jobs in partnership with artificial intelligence. “I think it’s smart to think, ‘What kind of tasks at my job will computers or artificial intelligence replace or do better? And what are my complementary skills?'” McLaughlin cites the example of bank tellers, who, in the past, they needed to count money very accurately. Now this task has been automated, but there is still room in the bank for tellers. “The task of counting money has been made obsolete by the machine,” she explains. “But now, cashiers are more focused on building rapport with customers and introducing new products. Soft skills have become more important.” It should be noted, according to Ford, that an advanced level of education or a high-paying position are not defenses against the arrival of artificial intelligence. “You might think that people in administrative positions are higher up the food chain than someone who drives a car for a living,” he says. “But the future of the office worker is more threatened than that of the Uber driver, as we still don’t have self-driving cars, whereas artificial intelligence can certainly write reports.” “In many cases, trained professionals will be more threatened than those with less training. Think of the person who works cleaning hotel rooms – it’s very difficult to automate this service.” In summary, looking for work in dynamic and versatile environments, which include unpredictable tasks, is a good way to avoid losing your job to artificial intelligence. At least for a while. Read the original version of this report (in English) on the BBC Worklife website. This text was published in

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