The jobs most at risk from AI boom revealed

Your support helps us tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground as the story unfolds. Whether it’s investigating the finances of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word,’ which sheds light on American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to separate facts from messages.

We need reporters on the ground at such a critical moment in U.S. history. Your donation allows us to continue sending journalists to tell both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news sources, we choose not to exclude Americans from our reporting and analysis through paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to all and paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes a big difference.

The job roles most at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence have been revealed in a new study by Microsoft.

Evaluating more than 200,000 interactions with its Copilot productive AI chatbot, the tech giant has compiled a comprehensive list of professions where AI is most and least applicable.

Office jobs, such as sales and communications roles, are among those most at risk from AI; because constantly evolving software takes over many of the tasks usually performed by employees in these areas.

To arrive at the findings, Microsoft analyzed how often Copilot users performed activities similar to those found in specific job roles and how effective the tool was at that task.

The analysis identified which tasks were performed most frequently and with the highest level of success, allowing the identification of occupations with the highest AI “overlap.”

The workers whose roles were found to have the most overlap with AI were translators and translators; 98 percent of business activities overlapped with tasks performed by Copilot, often with a high degree of success.

Other workers who scored highly included historians (91 percent), mathematicians (91 percent), writers (85 percent) and journalists (81 percent).

The report’s authors explain that “the most common business activities for which people seek AI assistance include gathering and writing information, while the most common activities that AI itself performs are providing information and assistance, writing, teaching, and consulting.”

Meanwhile, the least affected occupations included those that “require physically working with people, operating or monitoring machines, and other manual labor.”

These roles included nurse, plasterer, tire fitter, and massage therapist, all of which had less than 11 percent overlap.

While the results are concerning, one of the report’s authors downplayed fears of a complete change of professions (Getty)

But the report notes that researchers only looked at how large language model (LLM) AI systems like Copilot are being used, adding that “other AI applications could certainly impact occupations that involve operating and monitoring machines, such as truck driving.”

While the results raise some concerns for those currently working in job roles with greater AI overlap, one of the report’s senior authors downplayed fears of a complete replacement of professions.

Microsoft researcher Kiran Tomlinson said: “Our research shows that AI supports many tasks, especially those involving research, writing and communication, but does not show that it can fully fulfill any one profession.”

He told Sky News that the study “explores which job categories could use AI chatbots effectively, without eliminating or replacing jobs”.

Generative AI “could be a useful tool for many professions”, Mr Tomlinson said, adding that “the right balance lies in figuring out how to use technology to enhance human capabilities while complementing human strengths and taking into account people’s preferences”.