Are You in a High-Risk AI Job? New Study Reveals the Most Exposed Roles

Artificial intelligence is expected to wreak havoc on the job market, with industry leaders and policymakers warning that entire professions and sectors could disappear in the next few years.

New research suggests that adaptability, rather than exposure, may be the key factor in how long someone is temporarily out of work due to AI. The researchers mapped thousands of jobs using this scale, with adaptability defined by factors such as education level, wealth, age, and the availability of work in the local area.

In a study by researchers at GovAI and the Brookings Institution, the authors argue that while some jobs may be heavily exposed to AI, the workers themselves may be better able to adapt to job market pressures and retrain. A good example would be personal financial advisors or web and digital interface designers. Even though both roles are heavily exposed to AI, they also rank highly in adaptability.

Additional findings from the study:

• About 6.1 million of these workers are currently employed in the US.
• Job roles that are both exposed to AI and not highly adaptable include many clerical and administrative positions.
• Customer service agents, secretaries, and office clerks are among the roles most at risk. 
• The study’s authors believe lawmakers should pay more attention to supporting these roles.
• Women are estimated to make up 86 percent of these highly exposed and least adaptable positions.

Economists are still unclear about the exact impact AI will have on the economy. Some suggest that workers exposed to AI, even those in technical or creative roles, may be the first to go. Others argue that these same workers are already using AI tools to increase their productivity. 

At the same time, there is no clear consensus on how many jobs will be lost, how many will be created, or how far in the future a potential “job apocalypse” might occur.

Current hysteria around AI model performance

If we were to follow the stock market reaction to Anthropic’s launch of a new tool, the AI job apocalypse would appear close at hand.

The company launched a tool for the legal sector that can quickly read and analyze documents and provide workers with presentations and charts. Several legal firms saw their stock prices fall following the announcement. When Anthropic launched a financial tool offering similar document reading, analysis, and presentation capabilities, similar shocks were felt in the finance sector.

Anthropic itself appears to believe some of this hype, with its CEO Dario Amodei warning that millions of jobs could be wiped out by AI. At the same time, the apparent harbinger of these job losses has launched a job-disruption tracker and institute to examine AI’s impact on employment. Nothing quite like a headsman with a conscience.

Currently, the economy is not showing clear signs of a mass job wipeout, even though tech leaders would have you believe that the recent wave of layoffs is primarily due to improvements in AI. Block CEO Jack Dorsey recently claimed the layoffs of close to half of his staff were due to AI, though some have questioned whether this is truly the reason or if the company is simply unwinding post-Covid hiring. 

The same debate surrounds reports that around 20% of Meta staff could be laid off in the near future due to AI advancements.

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