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New research conducted by Brookings has provided a recent mapping of which jobs are truly being affected by artificial intelligence. As a methodology, the researchers examined AI-related patents and job descriptions to understand the real dangers of automation and identify which individuals should be most concerned regarding their current roles and skill sets.
According to the study, higher-paid professionals and factory workers are most susceptible to the impact of the technology. Interestingly, however, these same groups were the least affected by previous waves of technological innovation. As the chart below shows, it is primarily well-paid administrators, supervisors, and analysts who may suffer from this new wave of development and the integration of artificial intelligence into industries. However, another finding by the researchers is that artificial intelligence is unlikely to affect lower-paid service workers.
Even so, by 2017, the impact of artificial intelligence could already be observed in the United States across virtually every sector of the economy: from agriculture to engineering, transportation, and education. Regarding worker demographics, the study identified that men between the ages of 25 and 54, specifically white and Asian men, will be the most affected by AI in the U.S., while women involved in education, healthcare, and personal services remain far from the risk of having their roles automated. From a racial perspective, the research demonstrated that Black individuals will experience the least amount of exposure to artificial intelligence.
Indeed, larger cities with a higher concentration of tech initiatives will be the first to undergo this transition and expose their inhabitants to these changes. However, given the speed at which technology develops and spreads, it is possible that the time it takes for these innovations to reach locations far from urban centers will be much shorter than what we have observed over the last few decades. This relates to the very notion of exponential technology in terms of its development, as well as its decreasing costs and subsequent widespread adoption.
In this sense, although there are various humanoid android products performing tasks such as elderly care or teaching, it is possible that this type of market integration will still take time to occur. Perhaps we need to get used to the presence of these synthetic lives in our daily routines before we can accept them as workers in service and human care roles? It is hard to say, but in the case of the adult industry, the production of androids for sexual purposes is increasingly on the rise. Perhaps this will be the entry point or the turning point for us to decide whether or not we ultimately want a future populated by humanoid machines.
