Not every profession will be replaced by AI; see which ones will pass unharmed

Some events occur with impressive frequency. With each new season of BlackMirror, We have hope that the episodes will return to the quality of 2017. Every four years, we delude ourselves with the possibility of the team winning the hex. And almost every month an international report comes out about a new percentage of “jobs that will be automated by artificial intelligence (AI)”.

These analyses, carried out by international consultancies specialized in creating Powerpoint presentations and reports on areas that they do not master, disclose invented numbers that have increased every year. In 2017, a report concluded that up to 30% of UK jobs were at high risk of automation. By 2023, another analysis found that 18% of jobs worldwide could be automated. In early 2024, an IMF report stated that AI could affect up to 40% of all jobs worldwide.

These numbers are based on a misconception about how artificial intelligence works. Based on a pre-defined neural architecture, AI algorithms adjust their connections through learning via examples, just like the human brain. With the difference that they don’t forget, they don’t get distracted and they don’t have a biological limit to increase their neural architecture.

This means that AI algorithms, with the advancement of technology, will be able to perform all the tasks that humans do today, only better, especially as the integration between AI and robotics continues to advance in the coming years.

However, despite being able to do everything we do, some areas will never be automated with AI. And the reason for this is that there will be no personal or financial interest in this replacement.

Even though algorithms might one day be able to play with my nephews or have a beer with my friends, I have no interest in automating these tasks. The same goes for the job market. Some areas, especially those involving leadership positions, initiative and/or non-repetitive manual work, will not be done by machines, although there is the possibility of them being automated.

Therefore, instead of looking for jobs that exist today that machines will never be able to do (these jobs do not exist), we should focus on areas in which there will be no economic or personal interest in being automated by algorithms.

Just as accountants, who are professionals who have existed since the Babylonian civilization, managed to find new and more profitable ways of working after the invention of the electronic calculator in the 60s, all other professions will also reinvent themselves and readapt with the arrival of the largest technological revolution of all.

It is important that we start using this technology to expand our positive impact on the world. There are many tasks that need to be guided by humans, such as curing cancer, increasing the efficiency of green energy, and reversing global warming. The areas that AI can automate are much less important.