Who’s at risk of mass job losses caused by the AI revolution – blue or white collar workers?
Most experts agree that artificial intelligence will completely upend the American workforce (there are already signs it’s doing so in the tech industry).
But there have been conflicting reports about who is more at risk, lower-wage workers or middle-management types.
A report by the think-tank McKinsey Global estimated Americans on the lowest wages are up to 14 times more likely to be replaced by AI those on the highest.
But a separate JP Morgan report predicted ‘mass-scale white-collar job realignment’ this decade.
DailyMail.com spoke to six top experts to cut through the noise.
Watch out, middle managers
Artificial intelligence will come for repetitive jobs first, but will evolve to replace middle managers, and even knowledge professions such as law and accounting, warned John Warner, founder of Innoventure.
Warner said: ‘Human jobs involving repetitive, predictable tasks that can be automated are at high risk, including assembly line work, basic data entry, and some aspects of accounting.
‘Jobs based on a checklist or input boxes on a screen are not long for this world, including telemarketers, travel agents, bank tellers, cashiers, and loan processors.’
Financial analysts and insurance underwriters are also at risk, along with any job which involves large amounts of number-crunching, due to AI’s ability to analyze data and access stored knowledge, Warner warned.
John Warner, founder of Innoventure
Warner said: ‘Many knowledge worker jobs are threatened by AI.
‘Most middle management jobs take input in one form, manipulate it, and report it forward in another form.
‘Automation does that more efficiently. This won’t stop with middle management.
‘Sophisticated AI will do the analysis that replaces professional jobs in engineering, law, accounting, and other knowledge professions.’
Clerical and accounting roles
Clerical and accounting roles will see a sharp decline due to the automation of data input and basic reporting, warns Martin Mulyadi, Ph.D., Professor of Accounting at Shenandoah University School of Business.
Martin Mulyadi, Ph.D., Professor of Accounting at Shenandoah University School of Business
Mulyadi said: ‘The most impacted roles are probably those that can be systematized or involve repeated tasks.
‘For example, it is anticipated that AI will cause a sharp decline in many clerical job roles.
‘It’s crucial to remember that although AI may decrease the need for some jobs, it’s also opening up new possibilities.
‘I would expect employment in the areas of data science and analytics, AI, and machine learning to expand quickly.
‘In my field of accounting, I can see the demand for accounting experts who understand these are expected to be in demand.’
Call centers ‘gone in five years’
Call centers will be essentially gone in five years, predicted Piers Linney, founder of Implement AI.
Linney told DailyMail.com: ‘Generative AI will increase productivity as human workforces are augmented and technology becomes more capable over time to take on tasks. This means that fewer employees will be needed.
Investor and business expert Piers Linney
‘For example, call centers will be almost entirely automated within five years.
‘However, it is a mistake to assume that only low skilled workers will be affected as a reduction in the need for expensive knowledge workers represents a significant cost-saving.
‘In the next decade, we will need to re-think our education, economic, social security, and tax systems.’
Customer service in the crosshairs
Any job which involves repetitive, predictable tasks could potentially be automated by AI, warned Bernard Marr, author of ‘Generative AI in Practice.’
Bernard Marr, author of ‘Generative AI in Practice.’
Marr said: ‘AI is set to replace jobs that involve repetitive, predictable tasks across various sectors, including manufacturing, data entry, and basic customer service roles.
‘However, this doesn’t spell doom; instead, it signals a shift towards jobs that require human empathy, creativity, and strategic thinking.’
But coders can rest easy, Marr believes.
Marr said: ‘Regarding programmers, the fear that AI will replace them is largely unfounded.
‘While AI can and is being used to automate certain coding tasks and even write basic code, the role of the programmer is evolving rather than diminishing.
‘Programmers are needed to design, supervise, and refine AI systems, and their expertise is crucial in solving complex problems, innovating, and ensuring that AI applications align with ethical standards and human needs.
‘The future sees programmers working alongside AI, using it as a tool to enhance productivity and creativity.’
Paralegals and researchers beware
Jobs that involve retrieving and condensing information will be under threat, according to Nathaniel Whittemore, Founder of Superintelligent, a platform for learning about AI.
Whittemore says: ‘Skills (and more specifically tasks) are much more likely to go extinct from AI than are jobs.
‘Jobs will evolve to involve different combinations of skills and tasks as certain things get AI’d away.
‘Skills/tasks that are in trouble: anything that involves very basic research or information retrieval – which could be everything from low-level customer service to paralegals. Anything that involves summarization and condensing other information.
‘However, there will be certain complex problems that require human attention, and the skills required for managing those experiences will be human interface skills.
‘There may be a smaller number of people employed for these top-level challenges, but they’ll be more valued and more highly rewarded because of the changed perception of the significance of their skills.’
Writers and analysts
A 2023 scientific paper finds that mathematicians, financial analysts and writers are most at risk of being replaced by AI, said Thomas Roulet, Professor of Organizational Sociology and Leadership at the University of Cambridge.
Roulet added: ‘This is both a difficult and a well researched question! I am sure you will have many answers to it – but the most authoritative source is this 2023 paper.
‘It identifies mathematicians, accountants, financial analysts, writers, news and financial analysts as most at risk of being replaced by AI.
‘The truth is that those occupations will adapt rather than die – people will consume news, or financial analysis, or consultants’ reports in a different way knowing that AI has contributed to producing it.’
