If your job is likely to get taken over by AI in the not too distant future, do you have a back up plan?

[Iusedtoshopatsafeway]

Just that really. Time to find plan B.

LinkedIn is terrible. I haven't needed it for years but I use it now so people remember I exist.

My backup plan of bestselling novelist has gone down the drain too as AI definitely writes better than me. I could edit my AI creation, I guess.
Factual info will still need to be fact checked, which I why I think the non-fiction area of publishing will not be as catastrophic as for fiction editors/authors/publishers.

I have always worked in roles that have always been low paid but will never be taken over by AI.
So I am wondering if these sorts of jobs will be the ones that are in high demand in the future.

Watching with interest as my DCs are considering careers and many of them may not exist in the future.

Although not AI as such, I watched a food factory documentary and it went from employing over 1000 people to work day and night doing everything by hand, to cutting staff to less than 100 to man the machines that did it all.

It’s a bit concerning as what will happen if there are simply too many people and not enough jobs.

I do have a back up plan but it depends on my kids being adults before it can be implemented. Hoping to hang on at least another 10 years where I am then move countries and retrain as a baker.

I work in accounting and we are already reducing headcount due to technology. Not sure I can hang on for another 10 years.

Thinking logically, if we go to a 4 day week or end up with mass unemployment, i suspect community outreach groups and similar will be required, to keep people busy and in touch with each other. It might mean communities grow stronger... (she says doubtfully)

Im setting up a small clothing brand. So I guess going back to manufacturing and IRL stuff. You cant wear AI…

100%. What happens in ten years time or so when an architecture firm can’t find a mid level or senior level architect to oversee stuff because nobody qualified as they couldn’t find a part 2 placement year.

I'm a lawyer.
I think as an industry people are worried about the impact of AI on jobs, am I expectation is some clients will think they can save costs and use AI rather than a lawyer. However I expect many of them will find that this shortcut creates all sorts of new problems and that there will be all kinds of new areas of law and plenty of traditional areas of law where AI has made a hash of it or people have used documents produced by AI without really understanding the risks of doing so

I envisage it being an aid to my job like the internet is already but I fully envisage it will create plenty of messes for lawyers to solve

I do really worry about the next generation though because it does eat into the junior part of the job market. That said it will also be a really good tool for junior lawyers

I really worry how to best guide my children through this

I think you are massively off on the number of jobs that don't exist, compared to the world right now without computers.

Automation, from factories, to robot and computers, take millions of jobs away not needed. Of course it didn't cause mass immediately unemployment, same as AI won't. It happens over time just as it did with computers - computers being particularly bad examples as they advanced slower in practical application for real jobs than AI is doing today. And different jobs are it risks from different things of course, or at less risk.

I agree.

Look at supermarkets where 10+ staff have been replaced by self scanners using only 1 member of staff.

Same with factories where a handful of people can now use machinery instead of 100s or 1000s of people previously.

On movie sets you would need to employ hundreds of people for lighting, sound effects, editing etc.
I follow someone who is a foley artist who spends hours creating sound effects but all of that can easily be done by AI now.

I work in tech - specifically, information system design - and currently work with AI, designing agentive provision.

I'm 46 and have (hopefully) planned well enough that, in theory, I'll be able to retire in ten years, but I also have a little side hustle in cybersecurity and ethical hacking, which should give me a little boost if required.

Upskilling is key: take your existing skills and add where you can.

I’m already using AI to make money in my business. I’ve had to embrace it and pivot

I work in a branch of the civil service, very operational, can only be done by actual people on the ground. Got an email today telling us not to use AI for aspects of the job, must be done by a human!

I’m 43. I’m putting enough in my pension and savings that I should have enough in the next 6 years to be able to live if I had to.

Apart from that, trying to take on strategic work that requires knowledge and context and using AI to achieve the simpler elements of the role.

Most people have only a vague idea what AI is, or the difference between coding, image recognition, machine learning, LLMs etc. It's all computer, as someone said 😂

People are imagining some kind of robot army, but a lot of what people call "AI" has been being used for years and the sky still hasn't fallen in. It's in autocorrect on your phone, Google translate, CGI in movies, Photoshop etc. it's just become more accessible. "AI" has become a bit of a buzzword, like "Nano-", people are adding it to everything to sound all clever and innovative, but a lot of it is just new versions of software that's been around for ages. Yes there are big changes coming. Some sectors are already seeing them but for others it is still years away.

To me it feels more alike to the move from hand-written, paper-based society, towards paperless, email, spreadsheets etc. There were people back then that said computers would take over the world and we would all be unemployed then too. Of course, there was a big dot com bubble, and somewhere there'll be statistics to compare the number of jobs lost back then due to the transition, compared to jobs lost due to the stock market crash....so personally, I'm more concerned about an AI bubble than about AI taking over the world.

A crap analogy sorry - your dishwasher is essentially a washing up robot. However, we still have to load and unload, there's still bits that can't/won't go in. It can't cope with the tricky jobs like large encrusted pans, or delicate jobs like your grandmothers crystal glasses. It has taken a whole lot of the mindless daily drudge away though, and thank fuck for that!

It's true that few people are now employed as "dishwashers" in pubs and restaurants. One of my very first jobs as a teen was as a dishwasher in a pub, but teens today find it harder to get jobs, partly because many shitty mindless drudge jobs like being a dishwasher in a pub are no longer available.

Yes "AI" will be a big shake up, yes jobs will change, yes some jobs will become obsolete. But mostly it will be people learning new skills over time. Many jobs will change. Perhaps by a lot. Perhaps it changes so much the old job title is no longer appropriate. That job is then "gone".

@uhghgtaking your supermarket example - checkout staff may have reduced, but the boom in home delivery services means that more staff are needed for picking/delivery etc than before. Things always change. I can’t see AI meaning that humanity collapses itself with massive unemployment etc. New opportunities usually present themselves.

I work in a civil service type role, and I can absolutely see AI replacing some of the business support / admin type of functions. AI can easily set up a meeting and invite people, draft an agenda, and take notes. However it can’t do some of the more nuanced interpersonal things involved in setting up that meeting that a skilled administrator could do - it’s roles like this where I absolutely think people should be embracing AI to make their job easier and then “going the extra mile” on the aspects only a human could do.

Lawyer - yet to see evidence AI is actually useful for what I do. All being pushed to use it but it’s shite and just wastes our time.

You can spot anything written with Chat GPT or similar a mile off - so generic and insincere - and nothing it says can be trusted. Handy 😂

I’ve been off on mat leave for over a year though, so maybe it’s got less crap in that time 😂

Plan B is retire early!

Yes that’s very true about the supermarkets now doing more home deliveries (and staying open longer hours too) so perhaps it does even itself out.

@AuntieMatters it’s already the case that a lot of people are self representing because they can’t afford legal representation (and legal aid support has been cut drastically) and this has a negative effect on efficient running of courts.

Would you prefer a self representing client to use AI to present a factual case backed up by legal argument or a self representing client to rely on emotive arguments that have no legal basis - eg AI transcript of what the court considers to be fair and reasonable in a needs based divorce financial settlement as opposed to a disgruntled individual presenting an emotional case of what they think is fair.

I have used human family law solicitors (at high cost) and AI (free) to ask specific questions relating to a JBSP mortgage of an adult disabled child of the marriage taken out after separation in relation to discharge of liabilities in a consent order. No solicitor I have spoken to has direct experience and can advise. They can give routine advice on common scenarios but can’t deal with complexity. AI doesn’t bat an eye (obviously doesn’t have one!). Sometimes the hive mind can perform better than the individual mind.

I’m not asking for case law to set a precedent. I just want to understand the basic principles that govern court orders.

I’ve been replaced by AI. I’ve been freelance for years in Selection/assessment/outplacement. My main gig for years now was writing CVs and coaching people through redundancy. They’ve now got an AI system and have dropped us. Trouble is the system is awful and I feel terrible for the people now with very little support. I was already a trained coach so have pivoted into doing more of that, and am also re-training to support neurodivergent people in the workplace. It’s been disastrous financially but I’m hoping will improve soon. I am enjoying the change although I’d rather have chosen to do it then be pushed.

I am a therapist, and despite the number of threads started every day about how ChatGPT is a great therapist, I am starting to see signs of a backlash against the isolation of working at home and of soulless interaction with tech. People need human connection and interaction, and I can only see that increasing. I don’t believe AI will remove half as many jobs as we fear, and I also don’t believe the posts about how AI can do my job better than me.

I work in care and when that eventually goes to AI, I’ll be fucked, especially as someone about to take on a mortgage using up all my savings and with just one income coming in. The government doesn’t give a shit about mortgage payers with no dependents, can’t see this changing, so all in all I am genuinely frightened about the future and just can’t envision a back up plan.

I don't understand why so many people can't see how it is being increasingly used and not be worried. Even the Chief of Police the other week used it to make a security plan! I see articles online written by AI that barely make sense, advertisements with fingers instead of thumbs, starving children eating a birthday cake asking for "likes" - if you don't actually know what the reality is we are all just in an echo chamber. The less journalists flying to see things first hand, the less we can rely on what we see on the internet. Nothing is real when the bots are the ones "liking" artists on social media and real people are then suddenly thinking "oh he is popular, I had better listen" - we are losing our choices that make us human.

I think some people are in denial about the rate of change. Look up the growth rates of Chatgpt (a brand that's pretty much a household name now and was unknown 5 years ago). Look up the self packing robots that Amazon have started testing. Look up driverless cars. Look up the AI agents talking to each other to book a holiday.

AI will be able to self code - not entirely but largely. That's what machine learning is there to do.

People who mention the industrial revolution miss the point. AI replaces the need for people entirely in some professions and partly in others. More demand for jobs and less supply.

I personally think the best chance of success is with the jobs that need humans at the heart of them. Not everyone wants therapy or coaching from a robot. And some work is so detailed and intricate that a human can do it better.

DD’s global employer is aiming for an all round 5% reduction in staff every year regardless. However there is so much mis spending where they could actually save money, being glossed over by leadership management..

for ourselves, DH is mid 60’s and plans on continuing in the building industry for another 3 years. We have forward bookings for the he t few months and are not seeing any decrease in our speciality trade.

we are worried about anti social conduct and the believe of some re stealing (it’s only stealing…. 🤨) and lack of law enforcement at the lower level which is still terrifying to those innocents involved. So the decline in public conduct would be our biggest concern for the future.

I think there will also be a secondary effect of AI, which will be caused by cutbacks in spending. If people are can’t get jobs/are worried about AI taking their job, then they will spend less, which in turn means less work for retail, hospitality, tradesmen etc, and other sectors where AI will have a more indirect impact.