Jobs in Jeopardy from Artificial Intelligence - You might be shocked to find out what's really at stake.

Can you imagine a world where everyone has lost his or her job to an Artificially Intelligent Entity? What if, instead of people having the opportunity to work hard, and experience the rewards of that hard work, they were stripped of their livelihood, and granted a small Universal Income? Maybe some people could still have a job, but it might just consist of scrubbing the gears of robots, and dusting the insides of the super computers running the world. That sounds like a fiction movie gone wrong, no? Well this interesting fictional reality could become absolute truth in the near future, rather than 100 years from now. On the other hand, some people believe that A.I. will be the perfect solution to all of the worlds problems, and will allow us to do more of what we want in life, while allowing robots do everything else for us. Do YOU believe that society will benefit more or less from A.I.? The arguments for both sides are incredibly strong and equally mind blowing!

To understand how fast this technology could really progress, you will need to understand the concept below. This is an EXTREMELY important concept that is relevant to everyone today, because this gives us an idea of how soon we could expect certain jobs to begin disappearing.

In 1956 a man named Gordon Moore, who was one of the co-founders of Intel, wrote a paper about what we now know as “Moore’s Law”. In Gordon Moore’s paper, he was able to successfully predict that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every two years. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law for more information on this topic. This idea basically states that technology will advance and grow exponentially… not linearly. This tells us that what we think is 100 years off into the future, could be here a lot sooner than any of us realize. His idea has proven true for many years. We live in an extremely interesting time, because the amount of changes and advancements we will see in our lifetime will far exceed what a person in the early 1900’s would have seen over a 100-year lifespan. It truly is mind-boggling. Technology is soon going to blow past most people's wildest expectations.

Another vital concept to understand when it comes to dealing with Artificial Intelligence is the neural network. A neural network is basically the brain of the A.I. entity. It actually functions similarly to a human brain in the idea that it can also learn. The difference is that it can learn a lot faster. Lets look at the fundamentals of a human brain really quick. A human brain consists of many neurons, which are single cells that can conduct chemically based electronic signals. A series of these connected neurons form what is known as a pathway. A neuron also has input tentacles, which are called dendrites, and a single output tentacle called an axon. These input and output tentacles are what connect the neurons together to form neural pathways. Another fact you need to know is that an axon and a dendrite form a little gap when they “connect”. This is known as a synapse.

Now a neural network in an A.I. follows this format of a human brain in computer code, but instead of using chemically induced electrical signals, it uses math, or numeric weights. I won’t go into detail about that, because it can get quite complicated very quickly. All you need to know is that some A.I.’s are designed to mimic the human brain. These A.I.’s can be fed massive amounts of information in an extremely short time period. They can even be programmed to learn on their own. This idea is quite scary to some people, and honestly, they have every right to be a little worried. But the benefits of this could also be game changing for difficult and mindless jobs. Check out this link to see how A.I.’s are learning to write computer code: https://qz.com/920468/artificial-intelligence-created-by-microsoft-and-university-of-cambridge-is-learning-to-write-code-by-itself-not-steal-it/

Just look at the strides computers are making… A.I.’s have officially passed the Turing test.
Check out this link to read the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10884839/Computer-passes-Turing-Test-for-the-first-time-after-convincing-users-it-is-human.html

Here is what Elon Musk has to say about this topic:

While there may be quite a bit of information out there that scares the average person, there are also some amazing things this technology could be used for.

See what Andrew McAfee has to say about the future of jobs and technology (MUST watch):

An Oxford University study showed what jobs are really at stake when it comes to automation from robots and A.I., and I highly recommend you go read it. You never know if what you read today… saves you tomorrow. I was shocked when I saw that they had listed over 700 jobs! Not all of them have the same risk percentage though. Keep that in mind when you view the study.

Jobs at stake listed in Oxford study

List of 20 jobs that are at serious risk. (In no particular order)

• Telemarketers
• Order Clerks
• Library Technicians
• Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage
• Insurance Underwriters
• Loan Officers
• Brokerage Clerks
• Tax Preparers
• Cargo and Freight Agents
• Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
• Watch Repairers
• Mathematical Technicians
• Tellers
• Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers
• Sewers, Hand
• Data Entry Keyers
• New Account Clerks
• Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials
• Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks
• Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters

List of 20 jobs that are deemed safer for now. (In no particular order)

• Recreational Therapists
• Emergency Management Directors
• Fist-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
• Audiologists
• Healthcare Social Workers
• Occupational Therapists
• Sales Engineers
• Physicians and Surgeons
• Choreographers
• Psychologists, All Other
• Dentists
• Dietitians and Nutritionists
• Orthotists and Prosthetists
• Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
• Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists
• Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychologists
• Human Resources Managers
• Podiatrists
• Computer Systems Analysts
• Training and Development Managers

This is just the tip of the iceberg on jobs that will be affected by A.I., automation, and robots in general. I highly encourage you to research and read the Oxford study on your own. Click on the Oxford paper link in the references section to see all of the jobs listed, and what percentage of risk they have. Skip to the very end of the paper to see the list of 700 different jobs. You will most likely be shocked at what you see in the study. It truly is eye opening that advancing technology could compromise nearly half of all jobs within the next 20 years, but you never know, it could happen sooner rather than later. And please watch the videos. They are amazing sources of information.

References:

Computer Science Illuminated: by Nell Dale and John Lewis

Computer Science an overview: by J. Glenn Brookshear

(Oxford Study – list of jobs at end of paper)
http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/2015/11/12/what-risk-does-artificial-intelligence-pose-to-your-job

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2642880/Table-700-jobs-reveals-professions-likely-replaced-robots.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34066941

http://economia.icaew.com/news/january-2016/millions-of-jobs-at-risk-from-artificial-intelligence