What jobs & university courses should kids aim for to protect employment from Artifical Ingelligence?

[Suncreamweather]

Following on from the Artificial Intelligence thread.. What careers & university courses will still still be necessary for humans to carry out?

Things like nursing and physiotherapy which require complex communication abilities, emotional intelligence and empathy and the ability to physically assist people who are sick and in pain. I challenge any robot to remove the clothing from a frail, elderly, demented and frightened person without hurting them, tearing their skin or terrifying them. Caring roles also demand a lot of careful observation and subjective judgements about peoples conditions and is often done on instinct rather than hard and fast data.

Actually they are specifically designing robots to fill the lack of staff in the care sector.

Surgeons, vets? I can't imagine something as delicate as surgery being carried out by robots. Could be wrong though but there's no way I'd want a robot operating on me personally.

Hairdresser, beauty therapist etc.
Nursing, paramedic, vet, doctor, physio etc etc.
Bricklaying, Plumbing & other construction trades.

Basically, anything which can’t be done by or using a computer.

Social work?

Really?

That is terrible. I don't want my elderly relatives being cared for by robots. This is shocking.

I thought some surgery at least actually is carried out by robots.

Nope, surgery will absolutely be done by robots because of their precision and knowledge and lack of human issues like tiredness, stress, emotional troubles etc.

There are still many tasks which it won't be possible to use robots for. Also there are questions of accountability. If a robot brings you your medication who's to say you actually swallowed it as opposed to stashing it away or giving it to the patient in the next bed?

People with dementia won't understand or tolerate robots due to their poor cognitive abilities and issues with anxiety.

Someone who is end of life isn't going to want to hold a robot's hand as opposed to a warm, living human one.

Anything that involves being hands on with a task or people or requires empathy. Some things cannot be automated

Also, robots are sometimes used in operating theatres, although I’m not sure how much of the procedure they actually do.

Umm I think robot surgery is already here. It’s still in development but is being used for a lot of small, minimally invasive surgery. The huge cost of buying the ‘surgeon’ is restrictive atm but that will change.

Someone who is end of life isn't going to want to hold a robot's hand as opposed to a warm, living human one.

during COVID some people were given gloves filled with hot water as comfort instead of a human hand because of staff shortages.

Humans are surprisingly good at forming relationships with inanimate or non-living objects.

Robotic surgery still involves a surgeon. They're sitting at a console operating remotely, rather than scalpel in hand.

That was an extreme emergency situation though. Lord help us if it becomes the norm. We urgently need to address the issues surrounding staff training and retention before resorting to such awful measures.

I know however if it's been done once...

Robots are used in surgery but are controlled by a trained surgeon who is moving the robot around. The surgeon still has a job, the robot just helps.

Jobs that are hard for AI to do include anything with physical activity and with lots of variety. So hairdresser and plumber and electrician and primary school teacher and nursery teacher etc.

Yeah, it’s because the lack of staff is so low there won’t be anyone to care for them so robots will need to fill in the gaps.

You might not want to be looked after by robots or want it for elderly relatives but someone or something has to do it.

Someone asked Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, exactly this question on a podcast interview I listened to. He didn’t have any answers or advice for high school leavers, his best response was to say that Universal Basic Income has to be implemented as AI is going to remove millions of jobs from the market.

This is a video of a robot designed to transfer patients from 11 years ago.

Would anybody bother going to university and getting into debt if they could just sit and home and get UBI? I'm struggling to understand how it would work. What would the incentive be? UBI for all and then an extra salary for people who still work?

Yup UBI and then the potential to earn extra by working is how it is meant to go

UBI basically replaces all current benefits (including unemployment, child benefit, and top up benefits that many already in work currently get) so everyone has the same basis to start off with. Some may use it to start businesses, others will seek employment and work always earns you extra - so no issue where some are better off on benefits or working limited hours.

In many ways UBI makes a hell of a lot of sense

Robots operated by surgeon's is just the first step - before too long all surgery will be performed by completely by robots. A recently published study also showed that AI had a better bedside manner, preferred by patients, than doctors, so I think that before too long we will be consulting AI gps.

The improvement in AI is exponential and it seems likely that white collar, professional jobs will be the ones that go first - it can already do the jobs of accountants & project managers. AI can pass the bar exam so barristers and solicitors will be gone before long.

Maybe going to university will become more about learning for its own sake.

The robot in the picture above is very robot looking but I bet somewhere robots that look much more human are being developed. I know engineers are working on improving robots' fine motor skills, so more human-like hands are in the offing, I assume. Think of those AI girl friends that are (apparently) popular among some Japanese young men.