AI Takeover: Jobs at High Risk of Disappearing in 10 Years

Job Positions at High Risk of Being Replaced by AI
Manufacturing Sector Faces Potential Loss of 930,000 Jobs
Which jobs are currently being Filled by AI?

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology, such as ChatGPT, continues to make significant advances, the jobs for “real” people are under threat.

According to a recent report titled “The Challenges of Industrial Manpower Training in Preparation for the Full-fledged AI Era” published by the Industrial Research Institute, it was revealed that 13.1% of all jobs in Korea, approximately 3.27 million, are at high risk of being replaced by AI.

By industry, the sectors most at risk are manufacturing (930,000 jobs), construction (510,000 jobs), professionals, scientific and technical services (460,000 jobs), and information and communications (410,000 jobs). By job type, 59.9% of the jobs that AI, or about 1.96 million could replace, are concentrated in professional fields.

In particular, in the financial sector, 99.1% of the jobs at risk of disappearance were concentrated in management and financial expert positions.

So, which jobs are currently at risk of being replaced by AI in reality?

At present, AI has infiltrated the call centers of various institutions and companies.

KB Kookmin Bank signed a service contract last year to remove 240 indirectly employed call center consultants, claiming that AI consultants can replace human consultants. However, due to public backlash, subcontractors maintaining contracts with Kookmin Bank took over their employment.

AI is also expected to replace language and text-based jobs. It is predicted that AI will write articles for simple information delivery, and more than 59% of major media outlets worldwide are already using AI to produce articles.

According to a survey on “jobs with the highest possibility of being replaced by AI” conducted by the Korea Press Foundation last year, 90.9% of respondents chose translators and interpreters. The Korean AI Stenography Association stated that they successfully reduced production costs by having AI perform translation tasks, indicating that the position of translators is gradually narrowing.

Broadcasters, who need to show their faces, are also being threatened by 3D virtual humans created with artificial intelligence and advanced graphic technology.

Recently, the Jeju Provincial Office introduced a virtual human announcer, “J-Na.” Starting this month, she took charge of the provincial policy video news “Weekly Jeju.” The monthly usage fee is KRW 600,000 (approximately USD 500).

Jeju Province stated, “We can now produce video news without being greatly constrained by time and place and save costs by utilizing an AI announcer.”

In-home shopping, a virtual human was used as a show host. Lotte Home Shopping conducted a show with the virtual human “Lucy” and explained that the number of real-time chats increased more than five times compared to when a human was used.

Meanwhile, overseas big tech companies have announced plans to replace existing jobs with AI or abandon other tasks to advance the AI field, leading to job cuts.

IBM, a U.S. computer manufacturer, announced plans last August to replace 8,000 jobs with AI technology. In the coming years, the company plans to stop hiring for jobs that can be replaced by AI.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, laid off over a thousand tech and advertising employees this year and reduced YouTube-related staff. The reason was that there was no need for as many employees as before since AI replaced tasks such as advertising.

In January, a German business software company SAP announced an innovation plan to cut about 8,000 jobs to increase its focus on AI.