While the race for AI supremacy between corporations and governments continues, one thing is clear: job displacement because of automation is increasing by the minute. As researchers examine the potential increase of AI in the job market, a trend becomes increasingly clear: while job displacement in some industries seems inevitable, the potential for new career opportunities in other industries with the help of AI seems real. A report by Goldman Sachs suggests that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs.
It is important to recognize that while AI may displace some jobs, it will also create new ones, such as AI developers, data scientists, and AI ethicists. With AI’s help, people can train themselves and create their own qualifications, rather than depending on institutions that often involve bureaucracy and paperwork. This shift will put the labor market more under the control of the workers themselves. They will be able to get and identify the qualifications they need, determine wage rates, set working hours, and define time frames, among other aspects.
Ultimately, this newfound control can lead to a more efficient, responsive, and equitable labor market, tailored to the needs and capabilities of the workforce. Looking at specific sectors, artificial intelligence is transforming the retail industry across its value chain. On the demand side, businesses are shifting from traditional in-store channels to e-commerce channels, especially digital platforms, to anticipate demand and personalize the customer experience. On the supply side, AI is being applied to improve inventory forecasts, optimize merchandising and product assortment, and automate warehousing and store operations. Overall employment in retail is likely to continue to decline, but the demand for humans in routine and nonroutine cognitive tasks in such areas as customer service, management, and technology deployment and maintenance is likely to increase.
In the health care sector, job growth is likely to remain strong. Indeed, both pre- and post-COVID, the health sector has topped the list of projected job growth in the advanced economies. Health care jobs cover a broad range of skills and incomes, from low-skill, low-wage jobs like orderlies and home care assistants through middle-skill, middle-wage jobs like lab technicians and paramedics to high-skill jobs like nurses, dentists, radiology technologists, and physicians. All of these job categories are projected to grow to keep pace with rising demand for health care services.
Within health care, AI is likely to complement the demand for high-wage workers performing nonroutine tasks requiring specialized skills and education while substituting for workers performing routine tasks. In particular, AI applications are likely to substitute for humans in data-dependent cognitive tasks in administrative and office support activities and patient relationship management while increasing the demand for humans in work performed by health professionals like nurses, doctors, physical therapists, and dentists whose responsibilities require high-level cognitive and/or highly skilled physical and social interaction tasks.
