New research shows which jobs are likely to be most impacted by artificial intelligence, and the results may surprise you.
A new report from Microsoft, titled, “Working with AI: Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI,” takes a look at how workers in different fields adopt AI and how it will impact their jobs. Researchers analyzed what activities people used AI for in their jobs, how successful the results were, and what jobs the users had to come up with an “AI applicability score.”
The tech giant collected the data from 200,000 anonymous and privacy-scrubbed conversations between users and Microsoft Bing Copilot, a publicly available generative AI system, from January to September 2024.
What did the research find?
The most common work activities people used AI for involved gathering information and writing. When researchers computed an AI applicability score for each occupation, they found “the highest AI applicability scores for knowledge work occupation groups such as computer and mathematical, and office and administrative support, as well as occupations such as sales whose work activities involve providing and communicating information.”
Based on the findings, these are the top 10 occupations with highest AI applicability score:
- Interpreters and Translators
- Historians
- Passenger Attendants
- Sales Representatives of Services
- Writers and Authors
- Customer Service Representatives
- CNC Tool Programmers
- Telephone Operators
- Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
- Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs
The study also looked at the top 10 jobs and occupations least likely to be upended by AI. They are:
- Phlebotomists
- Nursing Assistants
- Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
- Helpers–Painters, Plasterers
- Embalmers
- Plant and System Operators
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
- Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers
- Ship Engineers
- Tire Repairers and Changers