• Advancements in generative AI software like ChatGPT have led employers to cut workers in pursuit of minimising costs.
• According to a new report, 3 900 jobs have been lost to AI in the US in May 2023.
• While in previous years manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs were feared to go to AI first, it seems in reality that white-collar jobs are the most at-risk.

Before the advent of ChatGPT and the craze around generative AI, we imagined that the future would see autonomous, walking machines take the roles of factory workers, manufacturers and caretakers like in iRobot and The Matrix.

Experts and analysts thinking on the topic of jobs lost to AI and automation would often say that it would be the boring, repetitive tasks that would be replaced first. The dangerous jobs, the backbreaking gigs, the blue-collar roles.

Instead, we now see that it is white-collar employees that are being affected. According to a new 2023 report [PDF] from The Challenger, in May alone 3 900 jobs in the US have been cut with employees replaced by AI.

This was around 5 percent of all job losses, with the largest contributor to axed roles being the closing down of companies, followed by tough market conditions. This still represents 3 900 individuals who were replaced by AI software, people with rent to pay and school fees to think about.

According to information gathered by AI industry experts, Tech.co collated the top 10 jobs at most risk to be replaced by generative AI technology right now.

It turns out that administrative roles are the most at-risk positions right now, especially at the entry-level.

This is followed by data entry clerks, software engineers and coders, customer service reps, paralegals, copywriters, graphic designers, bankers and accountants, traders and proofreaders/fact-checkers.

Each of these roles can be performed for free from software like ChatGPT, which is why some employers are turning to AI to cut costs, especially as tough global economic conditions apply pressure.

Recent innovations like the preparation of lines of code from ChatGPT mean that instead of a team of five coders, you only need one and a ChatGPT subscription.

Image generation software like StableDiffusion means that companies looking for quick and cheap media can do so for free without needing to commission an artist.

Copywriting is one of the highlights that ChatGPT brings to the table, specifically.

Tech publication CNET attempted to replace its journalists with ChatGPT earlier this year but had to publish an apology after the AI spun up articles with numerous errors and stolen pieces of content.

Hollywood writers are still in strike action that began in May amid fears that entertainment and streaming executives would turn more and more to AI to generate movie scripts. Writer unions are calling for total bans of AI in the writer’s room.

Tech.co cites a recent Goldman Sachs prediction that “office and administrative support” jobs have the highest risk to be feasibly automated and carried out by AI.

A sharp turnabout from the sentiment in 2021, when manufacturing jobs were feared to be most at risk to be replaced by AI.

Production processes are still becoming more and more automated, but operations are still being handled by human minds, at least for now.

Instead, it is less risky roles that are being cut for AI first. Roles that are easily automated, especially with innovations in chatbot technology.

Even market analysis is becoming another ChatGPT mainstay. A quick Google search shows scores of investment plans that hinge on ChatGPT-generated algorithms, promising enormous returns.

With OpenAI working on bigger, badder and smarter AI to power ChatGPT, the bot’s copywriting, coding and analytical skills will only improve. GPT-5 will be tenfold more powerful than GPT-4, and so on

There is some good news, though, according to CBSNews, which writes that AI is expected to grow the tech industry by $1.3 trillion, which will boost employment and create new jobs.

The BBC cites a report which entails that 60 percent of workers in 2023 are in jobs that did not exist in 1940. Perhaps the future holds new careers in the AI space, which could outweigh the jobs lost to generative AI.

[Image – Photo by Marília Castelli on Unsplash]