That generative artificial intelligence will lead to massive job losses is no longer news; in fact, it is very stale news because it is already happening. According to the ‘2025 Future of Jobs Report’ by the World Economic Forum, AI would render 92 million jobs obsolete by 2030. That is five short years from now. McKinsey Global Institute’s think tank projected that automation and AI would erode 12 million jobs in the US alone, five years from now, while worldwide, 375 million workers or 14% of the global workforce would have been forced to change careers in the same period. Goldman Sachs agreed with McKinsey that 300 million jobs are on the line due to AI.
New look workplace
The workplace of the next five to 10 years will look completely different from today’s as AI and automation take over. The seismic change is already in progress.
AI will not only affect low-level jobs
But when job losses due to artificial intelligence are discussed, we are quick to direct attention to low-level, clerical jobs. You’d often see lists of likely jobs to be overtaken by AI to include: Data entry clerks; Bank tellers and clerks; executive secretaries; payroll clerks; administrative assistants; retail cashiers; conductors; storekeepers; telemarketers; assembly line workers; machine operators; travel agents; insurance underwriters; vendors; warehouse workers; legal secretaries; and ticketing officers. While it is true that these jobs are directly in the line of fire for AI takeover, the increasing sophistication of AI puts every job at risk, including specialised jobs like engineering, software development or coding, content or copywriting, translation, teaching, graphic designing, and many others.
Coders
AI is gradually upstaging coders. Developers are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence-aided coding tools like GitHub, Copilot, and Windsurf. Like writers or graphic designers using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to write articles and generate interesting images fast and accurately, coders now rely on Windsurf, GitHub, Copilot, and other such tools to assist with their programming and boost productivity. What this means is that any average coder or coding enthusiast can use such tools to write advanced code. The AI-assisted coding market has experienced a surge lately, driven by these highly productive AI tools. The coding market is projected to be worth about $12.6 billion in 2028, from the $4.3 billion it was in 2023. To underscore this growth, last week, OpenAI announced plans to acquire Windsurf. The deal, valued at around $3 billion, represents OpenAI’s bold intent to play big in that market and give its over 400 million weekly active users another reason to stay with the brand.
Writers
ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek and other generative AI bots can generate almost human-like text now that can readily pass a basic AI check test. These tools can also edit articles, fixing spelling, grammar, and syntax errors. This has narrowed the opportunities for writers and will likely continue to do so as AI gets more sophisticated, able to accurately produce specialised writing. Businesses are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for their basic writing and copywriting needs due to its cost-effectiveness and the fact that the job gets done in a fraction of the time a human writer would produce a similar text. Emily Hanley, a freelance writer and copywriter, shared her experience in Business Insider Africa. “First, the work slowed. Instead of 10 assignments a week, I had five. Then three. Then one. …I first thought it was me. When the assignments stopped coming, I emailed my editor/boss to ask if I’d been fired. He told me, ‘Clients were simply unwilling to pay for copywriting any longer unless that writer could also provide email management and a funnel-building system, most likely because of the newfound popularity of ChatGPT’,” Hanley volunteered. Many writers have had a similar experience.
Teachers
Students are increasingly turning to AI bots like ChatGPT for answers to difficult questions. This is creating a gulf in classroom engagements between teachers and students. Also, participation in classroom activities in some learning environments is driven by AI. Many, however, will argue that AI will complement the teacher’s role and not usurp it. While this may be true, the reality is that the profession is under threat from AI. For instance, last month, Duolingo, the very popular and widely used language learning app, announced that moving forward, it is switching to an AI-first model. What that means is that it is replacing its contractors, translators, and writers with AI. Since 2023, the company has been moving steadily towards full adoption of AI for its language classes by cutting down on its contractors.
Graphic designers
Any dick and harry can become a professional graphic designer thanks to Adobe Photoshop’s new Generative Fill feature. The new feature allows novices to edit photos like a pro using text prompts. Dall-E is another AI tool that anybody can use to create or edit realistic-looking images. Such edits or creations can be achieved in minutes.
Clergy
AI is even encroaching into the deep recesses of human beings, the soul. Religion is also under threat from AI as it is gradually encroaching on the clergy field. In 2023, in a packed church in Germany, artificial intelligence delivered the sermon. The congregants sat through the 40-minute sermon in the German town of Fürth. In Helsinki, Finland, a church repeated the trick when it hosted a church service powered by AI. AI generated the sermon, hymns, prayers, and the introductory texts for the service.
Human resources
Many organisations today use AI to screen applicants for a post, to conduct interview tests, and to evaluate applicants. This is creating serious concerns because AI lacks the emotional intelligence or cultural nuances, things a human HR will consider in the recruitment process, to make quality choices.
The bottom line, with AI and automation, there is really no profession that is AI-resistant. AI has found functional use across industries and professions, from clinical applications, manufacturing, religion, to engineering and academia. The good news, however, is that while millions of jobs will be lost to AI, hundreds of millions more will be created, according to McKinsey. But the new jobs created will be for those who have mastered the AI skill, one way or another. We all need to reskill before AI turns us into obsolete relics.
