AI has been in the spotlight for the past few years due to how helpful and easy it is to use. You can write a prompt telling it to create a monkey eating a cruise ship, and it will do so, and that too in very little time. It is so useful that it is taking over the employment sector by storm, and due to it, many different jobs will become unavailable in the future. So what careers should be planned for that will not be affected by AI? This essay aims to explore future-proof careers that will be in high demand in the future.
Before we start listing careers that seem future-proof, it is important to know what makes a job impossible to be done by AI. First, it can require high emotional intelligence and empathy, which is only seen in humans and other animals, and it is extremely hard to recreate using artificial intelligence. It may also require complex creative thinking and innovation, which involves the creation of original concepts, art, or the development of new solutions, not the optimisation of already available data. The job can also require the employee to adapt to messy, new, or unpredictable environments, which requires human thinking and cannot be recreated by AI. It may require moral and strategic thinking, instead of straight logical thinking, which is done by AI. Finally, it may also require unpredictable problem-solving.
So, let’s start discussing careers. A career that AI will struggle a lot to take over is being Nurses or frontline healthcare workers. They have jobs that are reliant on problem-solving and require complex creative thinking. It also requires empathy for patients, which AI cannot do. While AI can do mechanical and robotic work in hospitals, such as surgery, it cannot understand the patients and their families’ emotions, and it may make decisions that may not be the best. For example, a person might be in a state of paralysis where they may not be able to move, and their body functions are killing them. If a robot is given the choice to do a medically assisted suicide, it may choose a rash decision, which could take things for the worse, but a human will not have as much of a problem with this.
Another job that AI will find hard to overtake is Psychotherapists, Counsellors, and Social Workers. This should be very self-explanatory, as robots and AI cannot show emotions or empathy like humans do, and robots give… pretty terrible advice. For example, a person once asked ChatGPT if he should commit suicide, and ChatGPT replied with ‘Why not? You can gracefully fall from a building, making you fall and experience gravity for the last time!’ If that doesn’t prove the point, then think about how humans can help in this situation. Humans will actually try to help you and understand your problem without giving stupid solutions. They will offer advice that can actually help and will look at your situation with no judgment.
Our next occupation is in the field of learning and education. No, not teachers that you see every day in your schools, I’m talking about Early Childhood Educators and Specialised Teachers. These two occupations are extremely important in today’s society, as the rise of social media is effectively rotting the brains of kids and students. A child needs an educator to help them in their growth and development, which an AI simply cannot do. How will an AI know how to deal with a kid? The child cannot speak in English, because they are, well, a child who cannot speak. Specialised teachers are also Non-AI touchable as they deal with differently abled kids. How will an AI deal with a child who has autism or parkinsons? They will neither be able to help them nor understand them. Hence, this is an occupation that’s very AI-proof.
Next, we have jobs like Electricians, Plumbers, Mechanics and Carpenters. This is even simpler to understand why they are AI-proof. These occupations require physical work and labour, and an AI simply cannot do this. Unless the AI is given a physical form, it cannot do the same as a human. Furthermore, the AI will have to adapt to the environment, which it probably cannot do, as it is very unpredictable. There are also no blueprints for the AI to do the work easily. However, AI can be used for assistance in this job for estimates, scheduling and material calculation. In other words, it’s useful for everything apart from physical work.
Next on our list, we have Authors and Creative Directors. These jobs are heavily reliant on creative thinking because, well, the product has to be creative. Writing is a task that often takes over months, and sometimes years. Art is even more complex, as it requires lots of complex thinking. AI can do both of them in under seconds, but there is a problem. AI cannot think creatively. AI relies on the past and writes stories, but only humans have the ability to imagine and create a new landscape or story. Even AI is inferior to humans in this field.
Next up is fishing and butchering. Meat is a food that a lot of people on this planet eat every day. It is a common source of protein and is beneficial for humans. Humans have been cultivating fish and meat for centuries, and these jobs are very unlikely to be overrun by AI. They require, as some of the previous, physical work, and even if a robot invented to do so, it would have a hard time deciding where to fish, and for how long, and what bait to use, and – you get what I’m saying. Food will be required in the future, and it is a fundamental necessity. Hence, AI will not take over this sector.
Another job that is AI-proof is crisis responders. Jobs like firefighters, paramedics, and disaster relief are practically untouchable by AI. Many places have fires and accidents, and AI cannot do anything about them. AI, even if it had a physical form, could not handle the heat of fires and would not know what to do in a disaster or accident. It can give instructions, sure, but it cannot do the procedure itself. Good Planning, Terrible Execution. AI will fail at being a paramedic or disaster relief worker, as it literally does not know how to treat a person with a disease. Hence, this field is likely never going to be taken over by AI.
Next, we have service workers. By service workers, I mean workers like Hairdressers, masseurs, Manicurists, and Tattoo Artists. They do work that depends on how people look, which requires the worker to adapt to unpredictable situations, and they also require know-how, because the customer could ask for literally anything. It requires lots of skill and experience, which an AI cannot have. Even a trained AI will be unable to consistently adapt and understand what the customer wants and do it accurately.
Next up, we have pet-related jobs, like veterinarians or pet groomers. Here’s the thing. AI cannot understand pets the way we do. As it is quite literally a computer, it does not know emotions or feelings, much less how dogs or cats or any pet get groomed or taken care of. It is very underdeveloped in this area. Hence, AI will be very useless when caring for pets and also, AI should NOT be trusted with pets, because there are many incidents where they have caused physical harm to the harmless animals. So, AI will not overrun this field.
For our last job, we have the political system joining us, for the jobs in that sector are very safe from AI. Being a lawyer, judge, or jury is a very safe job and is very AI-resistant because it requires knowledge of the case, details and evidence, which AI cannot consciously handle. Even a jury is complex, because you have to discuss with your fellow jurors and come to a decision. Hence, AI will not take this job in the near future.
To conclude, AI will run rampant in the future in most technology and software sectors, but there will also be many options if that is ever the case. Just in case, if you are taking something related to technology and software, be careful and have a backup plan if something big happens. Also, technology jobs won’t go away in the next 10 years, and you can comfortably work till then. Just be ready for anything that happens. As I’ve been saying, you will NEED to adapt for the future.
By: Pradyun Reddy
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