Will AI Take Over Human Jobs?

One day, I had a Zoom meeting with my professor about a research paper we were working on.

During the meeting, he told me a story about an incident he had recently experienced.

He had received an article to review, and he noticed that the writing felt choppy and unnatural.

In the end, he concluded that the article had been written entirely by AI (Artificial Intelligence).

A scientific paper requires careful logical reasoning, which AI tools still cannot do reliably.

He then informed the journal’s editors that he believed the article had been written by AI.

This illustrates how rapidly AI use is expanding. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and Bing Co-Pilot have made writing significantly easier for many people.

Furthermore, these AI tools can help write code, poems, stories, and generate ideas for many creative projects.

In one way, they have proven to be highly effective assistants to humans.

On the other hand, they may also diminish our own creativity if we rely on them too much.

The world has changed so much; today’s world is very different from what it was 30 years ago.

In the same way, we cannot predict what the world will look like in the next 30 years.

Gradually, we are losing jobs to automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In banks, shops and various companies today, we already see machines replacing human workers.

A similar situation occurred in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution, when many people lost their jobs to newly introduced machines.

It is said that AI will develop the ability to evaluate, calculate, and even make decisions.

Over time, this could become a serious challenge for society.

Today, we cannot imagine performing most of the jobs without computers, and experts predict that AI will take over many of the tasks people now do.

This means that AI may replace humans in various occupations, which can feel alarming.

However, in the long run, this shift may ultimately benefit human civilisation by freeing people from repetitive tasks and creating opportunities for more meaningful work.

On the other hand, machines and AI help people save both time and money. However, access to these technologies can be expensive.

This means that developed or resource-rich countries are likely to benefit more from AI, as they have a greater ability to adopt such tools.

As a result, advanced technologies may make a few wealthy countries even richer in the near future.

What will the job situation be like in 2050?

It is estimated that around 66 million jobs will be taken over by machines in the next fifteen to twenty years.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), about 14% of jobs in the industrial sector are likely to be replaced by machines within the same period.

The author and historian Yuval Noah Harari predicts that a large portion of the population will lose their jobs to AI (automation, computers, robots, and related technologies).

He argues that this will give rise to a new human group, which he calls the ‘useless class’. Harari describes this concept in his book Homo Deus.

What will these useless people do? If they remain poor and unhappy, they will create a significant challenge.

How can this problem be addressed?

Naturally, new types of jobs will eventually be created to engage people whose roles become obsolete.

Experts predict that while some jobs will disappear, many new ones will emerge. Positions such as receptionists, bus drivers, and radiologists may eventually be taken over by AI, but at the same time, entirely new categories of work will be created.

For example, caregiving jobs and jobs that require love, connection and compassion will remain in high demand.

Therefore, in this new situation, countries must reinforce their adult education policies to ensure workers can meet new and emerging skill requirements.

According to experts, the abilities of humans and AI will continue to differ, but their collaboration will become stronger.

Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu said in a podcast interview that AI will not completely replace humans, but work alongside us.

The better we understand this relationship and how to make it effective, the more successfully we can shape the future of work and humanity.

After all, the purpose of all human achievements is to enhance the quality of human life.

(This story was originally published in ‘Artificial Intelligence in Plain English’ on Medium)