The 7 Jobs to be taken over by Intelligent Robots (Some Will Surprise You)

Hold onto your white collars, because the robotic revolution is going to cause the biggest transformation in the world’s workforce since the industrial revolution, and are 7 jobs intelligent robots have firmly in their sight.

While many of us are excited about the future and the conveniences intelligent algorithms and robots may provide in our lives, 80% of Americans believe their job will “probably” or “definitely” exist in its current form within the next 50 years even though in the same study 2/3 of Americans think robots will perform most of the work currently done by humans. Clearly, many of us are overly optimistic about our future selves and careers. And, be forewarned, the jobs predicted to be taken first aren’t just entry-level service or manual labor jobs.

And, the robotic revolution is happening now. By 2020, according to a World Economic Forum report, robotic automation will be responsible for a net loss of more than 5 million jobs across 15 developed nations. In an IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Robotics 2017 Predictions report, the authors suggest dramatic changes in the workforce and our cultures due to robotic innovations including new laws, new roles such as chief robotics officer and new ways of working alongside not only human colleagues but robotics ones as well.

Here are the 7 jobs intelligent robots will want to take soon.

Truck drivers
There might be 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States today, but if the prediction of McKinsey comes true that in under a decade one-third of all trucks on the road will drive themselves, they better start training for a new job. Otto Motors, a start-up with Uber financial backing and former Google AI professionals as founders, has the “ultimate goal of making human driving obsolete” and is on the path to achieving it with its auto-drive trucks.

Construction workers
SAM (Semi-Automated Mason) is two to three times more productive than human bricklayers with a daily output of 1,200 bricks compared to 300 to 500 per human. This is just the start of automation in construction. Crane operators and bulldozer drivers should prepare for intelligent machines to take over their jobs quite soon.

Legal support staff
According to the Deloitte Insight report,39% of jobs in the legal sector stand to be automated by 2020. Reviewing documents and finding relevant supporting information for legal cases are tasks well-suited for the capabilities of artificial intelligence. For now, the AI infiltration is reserved for due diligence, electronic discovery and contract review, but expect more to come in the near future.

Medical professionals and doctors
Robo-docs are actively working today. And, they will fill a critical need to provide medical care to a booming world population as the supply of medical professionals struggles to keep up with the demand. IBM’s Watson is already teaming up with medical organizations to help detect and treat cancer. Robots are also strong at diagnostics and surgery.

Accountants
Crunching numbers, balance sheets, accounts payable and receivable, profit and loss assessments, inventory tracking—these are all tasks robots are proficient at and in many cases they are better at them than humans. Expect significant growth in robo-accounting in the next few years. Financial analysts’ jobs are also in jeopardy, because AI financial analysis is able to spot a trend faster and more accurately.

Report writers
Our novelist friends may still have a job, but report writers and financial writers that assess information and then write about it are probably in jeopardy. Machines are being taught and they are becoming proficient at how to create very readable content.

Salespeople
As consumers rely more on ecommerce and are adept at searching based on price, specifications and availability for any item they wish to acquire, the salesperson is getting squeezed out of the equation.
Technology is changing rapidly so any one of these jobs might win the unfortunate race to oblivion. If you’re a professional listed above, don’t despair. Even though the job as you know it today may no longer exist in the world of tomorrow, there’s a high probability that a role that doesn’t exist today will be created and you might be the perfect fit for. None of our grandparents were data scientists or app designers, were they?
Via Fobes written by Bernard Mar