It may be surprising to know Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and use isn’t something that is relatively new or novel. AI has existed in early forms since the 1950s and was first used in the automobile industry in the early 1960s.
Fast forward to November 2022, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT has caught the global imagination around the endless possibilities of AI use – from automating low-value repetitive tasks to helping solve the globe’s biggest challenges like climate change.
In this article, we will review five professions that have been and will continue to be impacted by the advancement of AI:
1) Content Marketers and AI
The content marketing industry is anticipated to grow at a 16.37% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2027. This represents an impressive estimated total growth rate valued at USD $582MM over these 5 years. Content marketing is a rather broad term and commonly includes the following forms of content: videos, blogs, infographics, case studies, interviews, and EBooks.
Generative AI is the most common AI used in content marketing. Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Jasper allow content marketers to quickly create high-quality forms of content marketing, such as blogs, images, videos, and sound – only to name a few.
Key Considerations
The degree to which a generative AI will replace a content marketer will depend on a few considerations. Those content marketers in more strategic content marketing roles, such as designing the content market plan as part of an overall business marketing strategy, are less likely to see AI replace their function.
Why?
It’s because their role in determining the overall content marketing strategy is highly complex, filled with nuances, and requires adjustments based on established feedback loops.
However, individual content creators, such as freelancers, are at much higher risk of having their roles replaced entirely or partially by AI.
For example, content creators who write low-value blog articles primarily to drive organic traffic are at high risk of being replaced by generative AI, which can write blog articles in a fraction of the time, typically cost less, and are often better optimized for SEO.
2) Journalists and AI
Journalists and the journalism industry are no strangers to disruption. Traditional forms of news media, such as newspapers and magazines, have seen their industry wholly disrupted with the advent and common use of the internet over the past 20-plus years. Smaller newspapers went out of business, others went entirely digital, and the industry experienced mass consolidation.
Those companies in the news and entertainment industry that survived the industry’s digital disruption are already using AI to write news articles and content for their social media accounts across popular social media platforms.
In fact, CNET, a popular media website, has been using AI to write articles since November 2022 – around 75 in total. However, they were recently forced to make multiple corrections to a published article when the AI made a number of errors.
Key Considerations
If we get to a point where the majority of online media is generated using AI, there will still be a need for a human, potentially a journalist, to review the article for quality control and assurance.
Why is that?
Because the media (news articles, blogs, etc.) may need to be tailored for a specific audience or purpose.
For example, suppose an article intends to provide three amusement parks for families to check out in certain geographic areas. In writing this article, an AI may inadvertently mention recent or historical accidents or even deaths of the noted parks. If the intention is to drive families to visit the attractions, the article will completely miss the mark, and there would need to be a human to ensure it was updated before publication.
3) Legal Industry and AI
Those who work in the legal industry – Lawyers, paralegals, and office administrators are among the list of professional positions exposed to AI advancement. A recent study by Goldman Sachs determined 44% of legal work is open to AI disruption. It further argues that those legal tasks that aren’t necessarily difficult but require a high level of human effort can be completed more efficiently with AI.
For example, these tasks may include, but are not limited to: reviewing documents and providing summaries, reviewing documents for completeness, filling out standard legal forms, determining compliance actions and plans, and analyzing large volumes of information.
However, it’s important to note that a large part of the legal activities that are viewed as being open to AI disruption are considered office and administrative tasks that are required in most office settings.
Office and administrative support positions in general, just not in the legal industry, have been facing technological disruption since the 1990s. In fact, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 1.3 million fewer workers in these roles today than in the 1990s.
Key Considerations
The legal industry is just one of many professional industries that are attempting to forecast what the future may hold for their careers, given the exponential rise of AI.
However, higher-value legal efforts, such as legal strategy, negotiations, and appearing and making arguments before the court, are only a few of the many high-value and difficult legal tasks that AI won’t soon disrupt.
Those legal professionals who are attempting to use AI for more difficult tasks, need to ensure the accuracy of the information provided. Two US lawyers were recently fined when they used ChatGPT to provide fake legal citations.
4) Accountants/FP&A Professionals and AI
Similar to the legal profession, accounting is another profession considering what the future may hold given recent AI advancements. However, it’s important to note that the accounting profession has seen and managed technological disruption since 1978 with the introduction of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet software.
Since then, manual bookkeeping and accounting have been replaced with bookkeeping software such as QuickBooks, FP&A Software such as Datarails, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as SAP.
Technological advancements such as AI have long been partners rather than competitors with accountants – completing low-value work more accurately and efficiently than accountants can. With more time, accountants can perform higher-value activities, such as providing tactical and strategic advice to their clients.
Strategic advice would include helping clients decide if an acquisition makes sense and at what price. On the tactical side, this could be determining whether buying or leasing a capital asset from a tax perspective makes sense.
Key Considerations
Much like lawyers, accountants find themselves in a profession ripe for technological enhancement and disruption. However, those higher-value tasks, such as understanding nuances and context, take years of education and experience to learn.
While most jobs and professions will see both positive and negative impacts related to AI, accounting is a prime target for media pundits when discussing what jobs AI will render obsolete. However, the demise of accounting is premature, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasting a 6% increase in the number of accounting jobs between 2021 and 2023.
We recently wrote more in-depth on this topic here – Will AI Replace Accountants?
5) Personal Financial Advisors
The personal financial advisory industry has experienced technological changes disrupting their profession since the early 2000s, starting with portfolio allocation software. By 2008, the first two Robo-Advisors had arrived with the launch of Wealthfront and Betterment. Robo-Advising is a form of AI that provides algorithm-driven financial planning with little human involvement. Fast forward to 2023, and global assets under management by Robo-Advisors reached $2.76tn and is projected to reach $4.66tn by 2027.
Key Considerations
AI, including Rob-Advising, will certainly continue to impact the personal financial industry. However, it should be viewed as a powerful tool for financial advisors to use rather than a job killer.
Financial advisors can use AI to analyze or rebalance portfolios quickly, conduct investment research, and build financial plans. Ultimately, human financial advisors will be in demand until the trust hurdle is cleared, where individuals have complete confidence in having an AI manage their investments that took years of hard work to accrue.
Conclusion
The global reaction to the exponential rise of AI in the past 12 months has ranged from how it will improve nearly every aspect of human life to the existential threat it poses to humanity.
There will undoubtedly be AI adoption growing pains and persistent wrinkles to be ironed out by businesses, regulators, and governments. However, the results of technological innovation over the past 300 years have shown us that those who embrace technological change become far more competitive than those who don’t.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which jobs are most affected by AI?
Jobs and professions with manual and repetitive tasks are the most exposed to being impacted by AI. This would include, but not limited to, jobs within software development, customer service operations, marketing, accounting, financial advising, and legal.
What industries are most at risk by AI?
Industries that are currently at the most risk from AI are those with lower-value manual and repetitive tasks. Specifically, these may include financial planning, customer service support, marketing, and media.
Which industry will be least affected by AI?
Industries that involve manual labor, such as construction and extraction, are likely to be least affected by AI. Similarly, the chemical and natural resources sectors, which rely on non-language-related tasks, also have low AI automation potential.