The coming disruption: How robots might upend different professions
WASHINGTON — A wrecking ball is coming for the labour market, analysts warn. As computer-processing power doubles each year and machines learn from their mistakes, sources say the upcoming federal budget will examine the potential of artificial intelligence to disrupt — industries, politics, and entire societies.
It’s been mostly blue-collar workers hit so far, but white-collar jobs are next, a research project at Oxford University concluded in 2013. It said 47 per cent of jobs risk being automated.
They found the most at-risk jobs involve repetitive tasks, like telemarketing, tax-preparing, and insurance underwriting. The safest jobs involved unpredictability and interpersonal skills — sparing psychologists, surgeons and social workers from labour’s endangered-species list.
A newer study offers a more nuanced view.