Who will be first, and who among us will be last? AI is here to stay, but what does it mean for us in terms of jobs?
For several weeks now, I have been testing various AI tools during my studies, starting with ChatGPT Almighty to chatbots for retail chains. Of course, we have also conducted a comprehensive analysis whose purpose was to describe which jobs will be most affected by AI. You can probably find many analyses and articles about the effects of AI on the labor market, and you certainly have at least five friends who have already started to actively use ChatGPT. Does this mean direct job loss? Of course not, but it certainly means saving working time.
So, my lecturer’s question last week was a bit surprising to me when he asked which jobs will be the last to disappear due to AI. I hadn't thought about it from that angle - who doesn't need to worry about AI technologies yet? Who will be the "last person standing"? There were several answers from the audience that contained keywords like "requiring empathy," "requiring social skills," "working with people," etc. Yes, all of this may be true, but what are the exact positions? This question kept bothering me for several days, but in the end, I also found an almost satisfactory answer. How?
Here are my thoughts based on my own experience:
1) Digital design and art - Artificial intelligence can't be an artist, right? My husband has been experimenting with new AI tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and Dalle for months, and I guess you could say he's an AI artist. He has a separate Instagram account (Original_me @originalme_hq) for his "art," which has gained 2,000 followers. That's more than many local artists in Estonia have. It's true that he hasn't managed to make money with this venture yet, and it can be said that people don't buy AI art simply because it's AI, but there are very capable AI powered creative tools on the market already. They can be used very effectively by designers, product managers, and even people who create Powerpoints (sometimes this can be art also). And in conclusion, it cannot be excluded that "conventional art" as such will still be replaced by AI.
2) Employees who work with people, i.e., HR staff or HR managers - Artificial intelligence can't work with people, right? Artificial intelligence cannot select suitable candidates for the organization, can it? Yeah, well, during one of the school assignments, we were tasked with testing different chat agents (ChatGPT, Writesonic) in evaluating different CVs and making decisions about five potential candidates. True, some chat agents were clunky, but ChatGPT was surprisingly capable. I asked it to analyze quite detailed and long resumes from different angles (e.g., specific skills, company values, etc.), and the results were amazing. I believe that some jobs in HR (e.g., HR assistant) will be replaced faster than we can predict today. It may be so that some small businesses will not create such a job for a long time because current tools allow other employees (e.g., project managers, CEOs) to handle these functions as well.
3) Positions that require counseling people? Again, as part of another assignment, I experimented with a chat agent as a consultant. I presented various difficult situations affecting my mental health and asked for help and possible solutions. It is true that AI is not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but for example, ChatGPT surprised me with its ability to empathize. In fact, it can be said that all chat agents had a calming effect. Therefore, it cannot be said that all empathy is dispensable. There are certainly simpler situations in life when humans can turn to AI for help instead of human beings.
But who will be the last of us to be replaced by AI?? The answer came to me in a completely unexpected situation.
One night, I wrote a LinkedIn post using ChatGPT as part of a school assignment. Since I like to be humorous in my social media posts, I asked ChatGPT to come up with a few jokes. The result wasn't bad, but it wasn't very usable. I tried to make the text created by ChatGPT more humorous, and this process made me laugh. "What are you laughing at?" asked my husband who was working in the other room. "I'm trying to teach ChatGPT how to be funny," I explained him. "I don't think it's even possible to teach another person to be funny," he replied doubtfully.
And then it hit me! The last jobs to be replaced are those that require skills or talent that cannot be taught to another person. One person can't teach another to be Ricky Gervais. My husband can use AI tools, but he will never be Picasso or Monet. I can use AI tools, but I will never be a top HR manager. What remains is "uniqueness" and "talent".
In other words, comedians, actors, and creative people in general (i.e., product developers of companies, designers, etc.) will probably be the last. The most difficult thing is to replace that "extra special" that makes us a unique person, and that's what we should pay more and more attention to in the future when considering the labor market and developing ourselves.
Photos: Jarmo Tuisk Midjourney
