Artificial Intelligence To Replace You? Microsoft Report Lists Jobs Most Vulnerable To AI Automation

Interpreters, historians, passenger attendants, sales representatives of services, and writers were among the top five on Microsoft's list of "Top 40 occupations with highest AI applicability score", as featured in a research report from the software giant.

This implies that these jobs are most vulnerable to being automated by artificial intelligence.

The report, titled 'Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI', analysed a dataset of 200,000 anonymised and privacy-scrubbed conversations between users and Microsoft Bing Copilot AI software.

The report determined the most common work activities people turn to AI for help involved gathering information and writing.

"The most common activities that AI itself is performing are providing information and assistance, writing, teaching, and advising," the report said.

The top five jobs out of the list of top 40 jobs with the highest AI applicability score were: interpreters and translators, historians, passenger attendants, sales representatives of services, writers and authors, in decescending order of score.

With customer service representatives, computer numerical control tool programmers, telephone operators, ticket agents and travel clerks and broadcast announcers and radio DJs, respectively, occupying positions sixth to 10th position on the list.

The bottom 10 jobs on the list with the lowest applicability score were those that required active physical activity, and specialised medical knowledge, followed by blue collar manual labour jobs.

This includes professions like phlebotomists (healthcare professionals who draw blood from patients' bodies) nursing assistants, workers who remove hazardous materials, and painters/plasterers along with embalmers.

"We find the highest AI applicability scores for knowledge work occupation groups such as computer and mathematical, and office and administrative support, as well as occupations such as sales whose work activities involve providing and communicating information," the report said.

The report also determined the categories of work activities executed with the highest rate of success, how wage and education correlate with AI applicability, and how predictions of occupational AI impact measure up to real world usage.