Artificial intelligence (AI) has been booming this year, despite being around for nearly SIXTY years (just ask MIT which was ground zero, creating the ELIZA program which was the first to allow a human to converse with a machine). Most uses of AI have been without people even realizing they were engaging AI. But ChatGPT has entered the chat, and combined with AI art tools, people are losing their minds.
We’ve discussed case studies of how AI acts as a supplement and can speed up existing jobs, and as a newsroom, we’ve experimented with how to use it (so far, outlines of stories is the best it can do, but fleshing anything out that sounds like it was written by a human who speaks English is still unsuccessful), and offered case studies on how it isn’t a threat to designers and others.
Yet many people remain skeptical, worried their job could soon be replaced. It’s a reasonable fear, just ask assembly line workers of the past.
I’ve long maintained it could hurt some sectors and help others, but that’s true of any technological innovation. That doesn’t make it sting less when it’s your job on the line, though.
Interestingly enough, I recently opined on social media about how ChatGPT isn’t a threat to writers, because simply put, writing is thinking. And bots can’t quite think yet in as complex of a way as a brain (that old chunk of meat run by electricity and superpowered by caffeine). It was a controversial statement.
So I thought I’d ask ChatGPT itself what jobs it believes it will eliminate.
The prompt: “Can you please tell me 10 jobs chatGPT will eliminate, and why?”
The responses were fascinating:
As an AI language model, ChatGPT is designed to assist humans in various tasks, but it is not created to eliminate jobs. Instead, ChatGPT can augment and improve the efficiency of many jobs. However, some jobs may see changes due to the rise of AI technology. Here are ten jobs that could potentially be impacted by ChatGPT:
- Data Entry Clerk: ChatGPT’s ability to interpret natural language and extract information means that it can be used to automate data entry tasks, reducing the need for manual data entry clerks.
- Customer Service Representative: ChatGPT can be used to provide automated customer service responses, reducing the need for human customer service representatives in some cases.
- Translators: ChatGPT’s ability to translate text in real-time means that it could potentially reduce the need for human translators, particularly for simple or routine translations.
- Content Writers: ChatGPT’s ability to generate coherent and convincing text means that it could potentially replace some content writers, particularly for routine or formulaic writing tasks.
- Social Media Managers: ChatGPT can be used to automate some social media tasks such as posting updates, responding to comments, and even creating content, which could reduce the need for human social media managers.
- Research Analysts: ChatGPT’s ability to process and analyze large amounts of text means that it could potentially replace some research analysts in tasks such as data mining and trend analysis.
- Travel Agents: ChatGPT can be used to automate some tasks of travel agents, such as finding the best deals, recommending destinations, and even booking flights, reducing the need for human travel agents.
- Administrative Assistants: ChatGPT can be used to automate some administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, answering emails, and organizing documents, reducing the need for human administrative assistants.
- Telemarketers: ChatGPT’s ability to generate convincing text means that it could potentially replace some telemarketers in tasks such as lead generation and appointment setting.
- Data Analysts: ChatGPT’s ability to process and analyze large amounts of text means that it could potentially replace some data analysts in tasks such as sentiment analysis and trend prediction.
It’s important to note that while AI technology like ChatGPT may automate some tasks within these roles, it’s unlikely that these jobs will be entirely eliminated. In many cases, AI technology will augment these roles, allowing humans to focus on higher-level tasks that require creativity, empathy, and critical thinking.
Now THAT is interesting… remember, ChatGPT is not pulling from live data, rather is modeled on info that is a few years old, so it isn’t being fed all of the countless conversations being had in 2023 about it, but this is still a fairly well reasoned list. It doesn’t conflict with much of what anyone has said, but that’s a lot of potential jobs on the line, and if you’ve played with any of the AI (like ChatGPT) that is publicly available, you’ll understand why people are scared and wondering what to do about it.
So what IS there to do about it? The toothpaste is out of the tube, the shit’s out of the horse. There’s no going back, so if any of this has you worried, it’s time to play with the tools yourself to see if you can be replaced, and if it looks likely, consider repositioning your skills to prove to consumers how it is a supplement and begin demonstrating AI’s weaknesses in your field.
The robopocalypse is upon us, y’all.
Lani is the COO and News Director at The American Genius, has co-authored a book, co-founded BASHH, Austin Digital Jobs, Remote Digital Jobs, and is a seasoned business writer and editorialist with a penchant for the irreverent.
