Have you ever wanted to know just how doomed your career will be after the inevitable robot takeover? Well, this nifty (and terrifying) new tool will tell you.
Created by BBC News, the tool shows how likely it is that your job will be automated in the next 20 years. Overall, jobs that require more interaction with other people — and more creative, original ideas — tend to be safer from replacement. These include therapists, who have a 1% chance of being automated, according to the tool, as well as social workers (4%) and nurses (1%). Many of these occupations also require a fair amount of social awareness and the ability to negotiate with other humans.
On the other hand, you can probably guess that jobs that require you to do the same thing over and over again — think filling out forms all day — are more likely to eventually be automated. While manual labor professions (including machine operators and housekeepers) are among those more likely to be replaced, they aren't the most likely. Instead, that distinction belongs to bank clerks (96.8%), telemarketers (99%), and receptionists (96%). We'll be sorry to see you go.
In some industries (most notably factory assembly lines), robotic workers are already the norm. And they're showing up in service-oriented jobs, too — with robot bellhops and valet parkers. Some argue that while robots may take our current occupations, they'll also open up countless new opportunities we haven't even thought of yet. So maybe they'll be less like our competition and more like our gently beep-booping coworkers.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT