At one time, no one had ever heard of a telegraph operator. An electrician. Auto mechanic. TV producer. X-ray technician. Software developer. Webmaster. Cybersecurity specialist.
Advancements in technology have always spawned new kinds of jobs while rendering other ones obsolete. Artificial intelligence will be no exception. Right now, we don’t fully know what those jobs will be. But that hasn’t stopped job seekers from trying to find out.
Prognosticators say artificial intelligence will likely have a similar impact on the labor market — and workers want to get in on the ground floor. But it’s clear that even employers don’t know what those jobs are. Not yet, at least.
To be clear, automation and, to a certain extent, AI have been part of the labor market for quite some time. Who among us hasn’t had an infuriating exchange with a chatbot? But interest in employment related to AI has skyrocketed in the past two years. Searches for AI-related jobs on the employment listings website Indeed have increased 8,200% since March 2021, according to the company. But AI-related job postings by employers have only increased 29.8%.
“I think it captures that kind of moment that we’re in right now where there are a lot of new possibilities opening up and there’s a lot of uncertainty about where it’s going,” says Trey Causey, head of AI ethics at Indeed. But, he adds, “The interest is undeniable.”
Indeed isn’t the only site seeing more searches geared toward AI. Daniel Zhao, lead economist at the job search website Glassdoor, has also seen an uptick, which he says is driven largely by the novelty aspect of AI and the possibilities it holds for workers.
“AI is poised to have a significant impact on the job market, and it doesn’t require being a Ph.D. in computer science in order to actually work at a company that is taking advantage of AI,” says Zhao. “So there are definitely opportunities out there for people who are interested in this space and who feel passionately about the technology.”
It’s no wonder workers are beginning to test the waters of AI, since recent studies have shown that most jobs will likely be impacted by the technology. And that’s pretty much what most workers are counting on. A March 26 report by the investment banking company Goldman Sachs found about two-thirds of all jobs are likely to be impacted by AI in some way. And in an April 20 Pew Research Center report, more than half of Americans surveyed said they would classify the impact of AI on both the workplace and the economy over a 20-year period as “major.”
But don’t fear the robot takeover just yet. The Goldman Sachs report from March also asserted that any displacement caused by AI would likely be offset by the creation of new occupations, which usually happens in the labor market during periods of technological change.