Office Jobs Are Now Most At Risk Of Automation Thanks To New AI Tools

New automation technologies have historically displaced more workers in physical jobs on factory floors, but artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI’s large language model ChatGPT and text-to-image model Dall-E are coming for white-collar jobs, researchers say.

A Pew Research Center analysis released last month found that about 20% of American workers are in jobs that are most exposed to AI, meaning their most important tasks can be replaced or significantly assisted by AI. Another 60% of American workers have varying levels of exposure to AI.

The analysis found that the jobs with the highest exposure to AI tended to be in higher-paying fields that often require college education and analytical skills.

“Society as a whole has always evolved and changed. Sometimes, there are those who are left behind in these changes while other new opportunities present themselves,” said Clifton Parker, creative director and CEO of Ellev Advertising Agency. “AI is no different from the evolution of our world from an agricultural society to an industrial one. Don’t fear the future. Embrace it and evolve with it for the betterment of mankind.”

The workers most exposed to AI were those with more education, women, higher-wage workers and Asian and white workers, according to Pew.

Researchers looked at data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET, Version 27.3) to analyze 41 common work activities across 873 occupations. For further analysis, the field was then narrowed to 485 of those occupations for which data on earnings was available.

Sixteen of the 41 job tasks were considered to have high exposure to AI, meaning AI could replace human workers or assist them in those tasks. Of the 873 occupations analyzed, 77% included at least one high-exposure activity rated as important or extremely important to the job.

According to Pew, nearly 13 million men and 14.6 million women were employed in 2022 in occupations that have the most exposure to AI.

Some 825,000 men worked as sales representatives, followed by 731,000 lawyers, the two most exposed occupations for men.

Meanwhile, in the most exposed jobs held by women, nearly 1.8 million worked as secretaries and administrative assistants, (not including legal, medical and executive secretaries), followed by another 2 million office clerks, general clerks, receptionists, and information clerks.

“This is a data conversation,” said AI adviser and tech executive Marva Bailer, author of “Be Unexpected: Resetting Routines to Revolutionize the Future of Work.”

“Data exists in enterprise applications, social interactions, manufacturing systems, phone calls, text messaging, and supply chain systems, in both structured and unstructured formats. Companies are leveraging AI to access, interpret, and interact with the data they own in new ways to increase efficiency and better serve the customers,” Bailer said.

“There are many roles that involve gathering data and communicating with siloed departments and systems. That can be automated by AI in a secure and predictable manner to equip the frontline worker with the information in near real time, leaving them space to focus on the task, project, idea, or customer with the right tools,” Bailer said.

“AI is a double-edged sword for the modern workforce,” said said AI business strategist Lisa Palmer. “It’s providing tremendous productivity benefits and opportunities for those embracing it. But it’s also threatening job security for roles as we know them today.

Palmer said businesses have a key role to play in creating “ecosystems where humans and AI can coexist productively, ethically, and profitably.”

“In the emerging world of work, it’s not about AI versus Human; it’s AI plus Human. Aim to be the ‘plus’ in this new equation. With roles transforming and markets in flux, adaptability is no longer optional — it’s your career safety net.”

“If you haven’t yet begun to examine how technologies like AI and others are going to impact — both enable and replace — your work, now is the best time to get started,” said futurist and entrepreneur Elatia Abate, creator of The Future of Now podcast. “The shifts afoot aren’t just happening to ‘them’ or ‘in that industry’ or ‘over there’. They are happening to you, yes you. All of us.”