THE RISE OF AI: WHY HUMAN WORKERS ARE AT RISK OF LOSING THEIR JOBS!
Did you know that what a human being can do, an AI can do it better? You don't agree? The facts speak for themselves: according to the McKinsey Report(2017), about 800 million jobs could be lost world wide due to automation by 2030.
Surprised? You shouldn't be.
It is no secret that AI is basically taking over jobs that were once executed by humans.
There's literally no job on the surface of the earth now that cannot be performed by an AI. Jobs ranging from writing to teaching, photography, manufacturing, driving, cooking, accounting, even coordination of meetings!
Should this scare us? motivate us? or make us sit up?
Our response will determine if we'll be able to compete with AI in the coming years or not.
Yes, it is true that AI is transforming industries world over but at what cost?
The fact still remains that the rise of AI will lead to massive job losses in the years to come.


The AI Revolution
I do not think AI needs much explaining in this current digital world but to avoid assumptions, just in case you're unfamiliar with the term, AI means Artificial Intelligence. It is basically a simulation of human intelligence in a machine.
Put simply, an AI is a machine that has been programmed to think, learn and perform like a human being.
There are basically three types of AI:

1. The weak or narrow AI
2. The strong or general AI
3. The superintelligent AI
AI has a wide range of applications including virtual assistants, chatbots, image recognition, language processing etc. Like I mentioned earlier there's almost no field of human endeavour that AI is not used. In fact just recently an AI was used to conduct a church service!
These are the kind of stories that make the rise of AI so scary.

Job Displacement due to Technological Revolutions
Historically every technological revolution has led to significant job displacement.
Here are some statistics to convince you:
1. The industrial revolution
This brought about the introduction of mechanisation and mass production which replaced manual labour.
As a result of this technological revolution, 30% of skilled craftsmen lost their jobs and 250,000 weavers lost their jobs due to textile automation.
2. Automobile Revolution
This advancement led to the transformation of both transportation and manufacturing but it also led to the job displacement of 100, 000 horse drawn carriage workers and 50,000 blacksmiths
3. Computer revolution
The introduction of computers ushered in automation and digital processing leading to improvements in the health, financial and educational industries.
As you'll guess it led to the displacement of administrative Jobs by a massive 30%.
4. Internet and E-commerce revolution
The rise of the internet enabled global connectivity, E-commerce and remote work
As a result 15% of retail jobs were lost due to online shopping.
5. Robotics and Automation revolution
The introduction of advanced, automated and AI powered systems has led to the displacement of 40% of manufacturing jobs.
As you can see anytime there's a technological revolution, job displacement follows.
About 23.5% of US companies have replaced workers with ChatGPT
The AI revolution will be no different.

AI Job Killers
In truth nearly every industry is at risk of losing workers due to the AI revolution but there are certain industries that are more susceptible to this. I'll categorize this industries into three according to the degree of risk AI poses to the workers there: High risk, Moderate risk and Low Risk.
High risk industries:

1. Manufacturing
Machines can optimise production, increase efficiency and reduce labor costs. Thereby leading to a decrease in the need for human an manual labour. This in my opinion is the industry that is most at risk.
2. Customer service.
There are chatbots and virtual customer assistants that can now attend to customers reducing the need for human customer assistants.
3. Transportation
The rise of self-driven cars will inevitably lead to the displacement of human drivers.
4. Accounting
AI is capable of automating financial transactions, book keeping and even auditing. Why should a human being be employed?
5. Retail
AI is capable of inventory management, pricing and customer engagement. And it does it faster than a human being.

Moderate Risk Industries
1. Health care
Machines can now assist in diagnosis, analysis and even treatment.
2. Education
There are now AI powered systems capable of personalised learning.
3. Marketing
AI is capable of analysing human behaviour, advertisement and predicting market trends.
4. Human resources
AI can assist in recruitment, talent management and administration reducing the need for human managers.

Low Risk Industries
1. Arts and Entertainment
Machines are capable of assisting in creative processes although human originality is still required.
2. Social work
AI can perform analysis and provide insights but human empathy is still essential.
3. Counseling and Therapy
Machines can give support and resources but human emotional intelligence is still necessary.
4. Scientific Research
AI can analyse data and give insights but human critical thinking is still needed.

Why AI is a Job Thief

AI is becoming a job Thief and here's why;
1. Speed and Efficiency
AI is capable of processing massive amounts of data much faster than any human being.
It is capable of working 24 hours without breaking or fatigue
It can handle an incredible amount of workloads without any decrease in performance
Which human can match this?
2. Accuracy and Reliability
AI hardly makes mistakes and can be trusted to handle any kind of work assigned to it with a very high degree of accuracy.
3. Cost effectiveness
AI is capable of reducing costs to a high degree because of it's ability to automate tasks
Who wouldn't want to reduce costs of production in their industry?
4. Flexibility and adaptability
AI is capable of fast learning and can adapt to any kind of environment quickly and efficiently . It is also capable of performing a wide range of tasks.
This and more are the advantages that AI has over humans. How exactly can we compete with this?

Competing with AI
Having known that AI is here to stay and it's progress is leading to massive job losses for human workers, can we fight back?
How exactly can we compete with AI?
There are basically three things every human worker can do to remain relevant and useful in this AI driven age:

1. Upskilling and Reskilling
The advantage that AI has over us can be reduced if we can improve our levels of skill. Whatever you're doing now, you can be better at it and the better you are, the more useful you become. The more useful you are, the more difficult it becomes for you to be replaced by AI. So upgrade your skill level.
You can also learn new skills. As shown above there are jobs that have lower risk of being replaced by AI because of their complexities. Get skills in those areas and you'll be hard to replace!
2. Lifelong learning
Continuous learning cannot be overemphasized in this world of ever advancing technological improvements. You need to keep learning and updating your mind to remain relevant.
3. Adaptability
Be open to new roles and industries because certain roles industries are already being overrun by AI .

We need to be up on our feet to tackle the challenges that AI poses to the Job market. Instead of trying to fight this advancement, a battle in which we cannot win, we need to adapt to it to survive and thrive.
AI is here to stay and if you are also to stay in your current job you need to be proactive to be able to compete.
Yes, you can compete with AI!
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