With the development of AI and its integration with the machines I believe many of the repetitive jobs and even some creative jobs will be gone. So what occupations do you think that will stay in 20 to 30 years? Just want to make some plans for next generation, either boys or girls.
China has two feet dancing robot, US has autonomous taxi …
My two cents would be teacher, surgeon, cook/chef.
@mskeggs I think to think that the whole AI coding or coding in general is done by someone behind the keyboard with no knowledge is a bit of flawed thinking. If i am designing a robot to do plumbing but have no knowledge or plumbing or national code, i would hire a plumber to get insight from him/her as to how they would go about their work and then my job would be to replicate what they did rather than getting robot to do how i think job should be done. Happens in all industries where they hire experts to provide them with guidance - in airline industry, they would hire expert in ergonomics to design and layout instrument panel for pilots but what instruments you need would be decided by experts in engineering in consultation with pilot experts.
I think it is true that professional companies do the design the way you say - but the tech-bro disruptors see it as a badge of honor to not do this.
Check out the dash controls on a Tesla for an example.
The people making claims about how AI will take over the world are definitely, absolutely and completely not the people who would get industry experts in to fill the gaps in their knowledge.
I completely agree, a computer may be able to make a desert patsy, but to know when to shoot that desert patsy with a nail gun you need a human.
My opinion is that trades such as builder, plumber, tiler, electrician, bricklayer, carpenter, etc. are unlikely to be replaced by AI/robots
Problem is when all the white collar jobs are replaced by AI who is going to have money to build houses and maintain them.
Most white collar jobs are already about working out the best way to do something, not sorting a pile of papers into box A or B.
If I can use AI to sort through 200gb of legal discovery or analyse a much larger pool of job candidates or some other task that was just avoided because it was impractical, that doesn't mean jobs are lost.
Mail merge can deliver a million letters in a few seconds, compared to the typing pool hand addressing them. It meant now we get "Dear netjock, we are raising your prices" instead of a generic notice.
I think there will be fewer jobs lost than many expect, as it turns out the use cases are just for one part of a person's work, and having a very sophisticated system to be able to do a complete job will be costlier than just having a person.
That doesn't mean if you are e.g. a translator that the market for translation services won't shrink, but being able to do serviceable translation of an instruction sheet or brochure is only a bit of the job.
I think there will be fewer jobs lost than many expect
That was my point but obviously have to be blunt otherwise people don't get it.
@netjock: I agree, i think the addition to this is to consider how automation changed industries already disrupted. The naive comment from the financial press is that ai will save money and make workers obsolete.
But if you look at a business that used automation to cut costs in their manufacturing in 1990, to replace somebody soldering a circuit board in a clock radio for example, then today they would have an expensive manufacturing plant, and frankly would have gone out of business a decade or two ago.
The successful businesses in that period stopped soldering their Mac Plus by hand, but reoriented their business to harness new opportunities.
Would you rather your kid worked at AWA soldering clock radios, or Apple designing a new cellphone in 2025?
because they often involve a really broad combination of skills and knowledge, including continuous oral communication/negotiation, really fine technical skills and knowledge that can require years to master, along with good eye/hand coordination, getting into awkward spaces, sometimes with a bit of climbing, sometimes a lot of planning and problem solving, hard labor, local knowledge
I've never seen a tradie display all of these.
Normally they rock up 2 hours late, hungover, and oral communication skills on par with a 1700s era pirate.
You are just being obvious as to why our productivity is low.
Already seen a machine that can make hamburgers in a San Francisco restaurant. It wasnt very complicated either.
Pizzas are not far off; I've seen robots essentially print pizzas.
Automatic coffee machines have been around for decades, yet they still haven’t replaced baristas.
Yeah, Coz people be treating coffee making as some king of Art here.
@Hunk: If you like coffee, then yeah? Same goes for any interests people are into.
I've tried both cheap and expensive automatic coffee machines. They're all very inconsistent simply because there's a lot of variables that can change. Unless machines get to a stage where they can 'see' and 'taste' the coffee output and make adjustments accordingly, then a barista will always be better. In addition, some people can have odd preferences for coffee that a machine just can't cater for automatically.
@skittlebrau: In which case the cost/maintenance of such machines can be a breaker. You might be better off to hire a barista to do it.
@wombok2: These robotic coffee machines have been around for years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PRsAGIAnPg
You have to wonder: why haven’t they gained more popularity? Why aren’t the world’s largest coffee chains using them?
@OzHan robot baristas arent new, but robot baristas making latte art is new.
Personally i think its just a gimmick when its still serving bad coffee, but if its nice coffee, can do latte art and available 24/7 now we’re talking.
Having said that, the tech is there, i think corporations dont want to remove that “human interaction” just yet.
@wombok2: Neither is new - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwD3UQXTRE
Just because the technology exists doesn’t mean it’s financially viable. I don’t know about you, but I’d choose a coffee made by a real barista any day. If I’m getting coffee from an automatic machine or a robot, I’d expect to pay much less.
@OzHan: @OzHan true i mustve missed that video.
Personally im sick for over paying for coffee, but it i could get barista quality coffee for a fraction of the price lets say 7/11 that will be it for me.
but also i dont think those machines cost that much, over time it would pay it self off anyways. It’s probably more so companies still want that human touch or at least they think customers still want that…for now.
Ive been in a company where they couldve easily replaced a team of offshore data entry workers with RPA, but they decided not to go with the project for that exact reason i mentioned.
but also i dont think those machines cost that much, over time it would pay it self off anyways. It’s probably more so companies still want that human touch or at least they think customers still want that…for now.
If using machines for a task saves a company money, that doesn't necessarily mean that those savings will get passed onto the customer.
I also suspect most people would trust a human surgeon more than an AI robot surgeon, even if the AI surgeon could become more accurate and reliable in principle.
The robotic surgeon would be significantly cheaper, much faster, and carry a lower risk of infection.
You might even be able to purchase a home-use surgical robot for minor procedures like stitches and basic treatments.
How would AI do the work of a chef?
How wouldn't it do the work of a chef?
AI systems can (or possibly already have) read every cook book ever published, and watch every cooking show available. They could also be trained by professional chefs. This would give them a solid understanding of the fundamentals of cooking in addition to a vast repertoire of recipes, and even knowledge of the history of cooking. It's already been demonstrated that AI systems can be creative, so they may be able to come up with new recipes or variations of recipes. A robot should eventually be able to measure and prepare precise amounts of ingredients more reliably and faster than a human can.
I guess you don’t cook, or haven’t given it much thought.
I agree a robot can prepare nuggets to be flash frozen and boxed in a factory. And a robot can heat those in oil for a set period to serve them at the RSL club.
A chef will adapt the recipe according to the variability of their ingredients for the best taste, texture, appearance.
Think of making a roux to get the consistency just right, with no lumps, so it doesn’t burn, so it tastes perfect.
The sous chef might do this dozens of times a night, but it would be very hard for an ai to replicate.
@mskeggs: In future, with greater advances in robotics, and with AI systems trained by professional chefs, I think an AI robot could make a decent chef. Maybe not Michelin 5 star, but pretty good. Engineers have already equipped robots with a sense of smell, so it is not that farfetched.
A chef will adapt the recipe according to the variability of their ingredients for the best taste, texture, appearance.
Think of making a roux to get the consistency just right, with no lumps, so it doesn’t burn, so it tastes perfect.
The sous chef might do this dozens of times a night, but it would be very hard for an ai to replicate.
Where you say things like this, you may be doing what I and everyone else did several years ago: underestimating the rapid and extraordinary advance of AI systems. Six or seven years ago, I probably would have said an AI system will never be able to translate language reliably, because dealing with the actual meaning of language is too complex for a machine that is ultimately based on a binary number system. And yet, here we are, with AI rapidly catching up to, and in some cases improving on the work of professional translators.
@ForkSnorter: I think I have had a similar reaction to a lot of people with Large Language Model AI like ChatGPT.
The sophistication is the language parsing is really high, streets ahead of any previous natural language stuff.
This causes you to think “hmm, this could be really useful in my job” or if you are a certain type of CEO “I could replace staff with this.”
I tried it at work, and ran trials of a couple of vendor’s systems. I was about 80% useful, but the 20% errors were tiresome to ferret out and added risks if missed.
It could reliably replace a person doing a very menial task - directing a phone call to the right department, or answering a question like ‘how do I change my password”, but these menial tasks were already long ago automated, so the AI is replacing “select 2 for accounts” not a real person.
A friend who works in SEO says it is useful for automating the tedious blog posts used to build Google rank, but she expects this will wither away after a while as Google refines pagerank.
And plenty of programmers I know say it is really helpful to replace looking on Stackoverflow for the sample bit of code they need so they don’t have to write it from scratch.
All these things are far removed from using AI in the real world, with its messy edges and difficult feedback systems. Someone gave the example of shelling a prawn. I’ll give the example of house painting. These are jobs with low training requirements where people have inherent adaptability to the world that was designed for them - to the point where a replacement robot would have to be both very advanced and very cheap to be a reasonable replacement.
AI can work ok on tasks where the real world is abstracted into a computer data set, like legal discovery or scanning a CCTV feed for a yellow hat. But interacting with the physical world is much harder - robot taxis still need close supervision, even when operating in a closely mapped and defined area with legally mandated road rules. Autopilot works in an empty airspace, but not on the apron. Robots can weld a car frame to millimeter tolerances on a precision stamped chassis, but can’t shell a prawn.
And in creative industries, it is a bit like saying a music box will replace a court string quartet. Yes, they both produce sounds that follow the same melody. There may be circumstances where a music box is ‘good enough’. But the contribution of AI still needs a human to make it good.
On your example of a translator/interpreter, I saw this interesting article about how AI can help them do their job.
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/2/
If cooking were as simple as just reading cookbooks or recipes, everyone could become a master chef.
@OzHan: What if everyone was trained by a master chef for 2 years and we had perfect memory and perfect ability to imitate what we see?
@ForkSnorter: You've described the poor little plebs aspirations at Maccas etc.(except the master chef part)
3D printed houses made out of concrete are already a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhAwPFIUF_4
they are currently still working out the kinks of the machines
And the cost to build a house using such 3d printing? You need to see another half of the story.
You are suggesting a bricklayer needs better "really fine technical skills" and communication skills than a surgeon :/
When I mentioned communication, I was referring more to builders and carpenters who might spend months talking/negotiating with an owner or developer prior to undertaking a renovation/extension or new build, in addition to exploring a house/property in detail, creating and submitting designs to council for approval, and coordinating with employees and other tradies/suppliers. The builder has to have really practical knowledge about what kind of things they can and can't build and how that matches up with the owner's/developer's desires/budget, etc. I think AI knowledge is more kind of theoretical, and is currently not really at the level where an AI system could come in, ask a few questions and figure out what is the best kind of structure to build in unique situations and then go ahead and build it.
In regard to bricklayers: Yes, current robots can do basic bricklaying. However, they would not be able to squeeze into an awkward narrow garden to build a brick fence between two narrow houses, or patch up some damaged brickwork in a house wall and/or do some complex tinting/reshaping to match ancient bricks that you can't buy anymore.
Professional ozbargainers
Are you saying jv is not an ai bot?
I think many will try to replicate the jv model but fail
professional implies we are paid - I haven't received my payment from OzB yet??
The payment is in self satisfaction of a job..done.
Sports. Though I think robot sports will be popular too.
I think most cooking will be done by robots, but there will still be a human chef back there running things, the robot chefs will be like their tools. Some restaurants will be totally robot though. And people will always like the luxury of human servers so nice restaurants and hotels will be full of people serving you.
Have you looked out the back of a fast food chain? It is already hugely automated - having a human shaped robot would likely cost more than a 17yro and get in the way.
Saw a YouTube piece the other day about automatic woks and auto chopping robots, still needs a chef to throw in and change ingredients but still. Blew my mind, when that thing breaks the service fees and finding a tech would be a pain in the butt for sure.
Bladerunner.
watch for the red eyes
OnlyFans content creator, influencer, s*x worker, age carer, police (maybe).
I've heard from teachers that when small children are asked what they want to do in the future, most say influencer.
The future is bright indeed.
I think the pendulum is starting to swing the other way on that crap. Give it a generation or two.
The entire party will be over in less time than that
previous generations helped bring social media to life, we all need to look in the mirror, can't blame the youth
Dole bludgers (massive growth expected)
Look up what UBI is.
Radio DJs too. A lot will be replaced, but the big stations like in each city or the Apple Music live stations will always have people hosting them, though maybe some shows on those stations will have an AI DJ during off hours.
"Well, hot dog, we have a 'wiener'." -DJ 3000
Spotify has ai dj already, it’s not bad.
Carer for aged ppl … Or even cleaners for aged ppl.
Industry will increase in next 20 years.
Basically - anything still physical == non AI.
Not saying that AI will take over those jobs - but may still have an influence.
Eg. With my mum - she has a cleaner once a week, but cleaner recently streamlined things … To do many other clients in village at same time - (yet still claims 45 min travel costs every visit to mum (double dipping).
Cleaner. My workplace got a robot vacuum cleaner for $1500 and gets staff members to clean up their own area at the end of the day. The contract cleaners have been let go.
Rofl. Does the robot vaccum get thrown into the toilet bawl to get the skid marks off?
We have a brush in each cubical and a sign indicating what it's for.
Employees taking turns cleaning the toilet. Sadly, there are no robots for toilet cleaning yet.
This is not "replacing position with the robot". It's letting cleaner go and passing their responsibilities to the employees.
Employees are much cheaper than cleaning contractors.
@Cluster: You should get a job as a cleaner if it pays better, considering you are already doing it.
Ooh and anyone been to one of those restaurants that has a robot bring food to the table ???
An Indian restaurant in SA comes to mind - which have dined at afew times - is actually quite a tourist drawcard.
While not exactly AI - but still robots taking jobs of humans.
Yes quite a few of the chinese dumpling restaurants have this, though I suspect it's more of a gimmick than a cost-saving measure at this point. They still have staff who just stand around more than they used to
I've seen robots in hotels as well taking the elevator and doing room service
These where at every hotel I stayed at in China.
My partner left her passport with reception, reception put it in a robot and the trash can sized robot caught the lift by itself and rang our doorbell.
A few of the restaurants had them to delivering stuff ordered from a QR code on the table.
https://youtu.be/x6YSR6ptMtU Summary: The Jobs and Industries That Will Thrive in the Next Decade
This segment discusses the impact of AI on jobs and which industries will thrive in the coming years.
Jobs at Risk
AI and automation will replace roles such as:
Bank tellers, data clerks, cashiers (due to self-service technology)
White-collar jobs like bookkeeping, legal clerks, and some accounting roles
Industries That Will Thrive
Caring Professions – Healthcare, aged care, and allied health roles like speech pathology
Technology Fields – AI, robotics, and machine learning specialists
Cybersecurity – Due to rising cybercrime, security roles will see strong demand
Future-Proofing Careers
Emphasizing Human Skills – Jobs that require empathy, creativity, and judgment will remain secure
AI Adaptation – Employers prefer workers who can use AI tools
Critical Thinking & Communication – Skills like negotiation, persuasion, and information analysis will be crucial
Educational Trends & Predictions
Shift from University to Trades & Apprenticeships – More demand for vocational training
Longer Lifespans & Technological Growth – Expect changes in urban design, transportation (flying cars, supersonic jets), and climate adaptation strategies
Fact-Check of Key Claims
"A quarter of all occupations globally will change in the next two years."
✅ Partially True – The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 predicts that 23% of jobs will significantly change by 2027 due to AI and automation.
"Cybercrime would be the third-largest economy if it were a country, with over $1 trillion in annual losses."
✅ True – Cybersecurity Ventures estimates global cybercrime costs could reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, making it one of the largest economic forces globally.
"Employers prefer workers with AI skills over more experienced workers without AI knowledge."
✅ True – A 2023 ResumeBuilder survey found that 91% of companies prefer hiring AI-savvy employees, even with less experience.
Cybercrime is a growth industry, but it too will be automated. Right now the cat fisher is in a compound in Myanmar chatting away with dozens of victims, trying to convince them that this oil rig worker really needs bitcoin. There's no reason why that can't be fully automated.
In the UK a telco has deployed an AI that simulates a doddering old person and deliberately wastes scammers' time. I predict in the future we'll have AIs talking to AIs, each trying to con the other.
Lenny has existed for 14 years now, it's a forever cat-and-mouse game, billions on either side to be made.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_(bot)
+1 aged care is predicted to boom with the aging population
I even read that the aging demographics in China is expected to contribute maybe 20-45% of their economic growth
so if you can get into a business level that could be great to profit from
you just don't want to be an over-stressed harried part-time at-call nurse wiping the bottoms of inert bed-ridden obese people while alarms are ringing for attention all over after midnight while you're alone on the job, and having to lift their inert deadweight - that way lies permanent back injury - like any manual labouring job - which is why you don't want to stay at entry level of most jobs.
Bikie.
Beach bum
Plumber.
Brickie.
Builder.
Rubbish collector.
Dentist.
Councillor/therapist.
Massage.
Physio.
Any job that requires physical human input but not computer related?
Until such times as we have fully automated self-driving trucks there will be a need for a garbage collector to drive the truck, say for another ten years perhaps. But long gone are the days when the trucks also had three blokes running along behind, picking up the bins and emptying them into the back of the trucks. Automated arms on the trucks put an end to that.
Some truck driving jobs in my opinion will go for a long time to come.
Many simple metro point to point deliveries can be replaced when ai and self driving becomes a thing.
But so many other truck jobs require a human to constantly be checking/ adjusting/ fixing issues that can’t be done by non human things.
Particularly odd freight and long distance driving.
Australia is too vast and sparsely populated to be completely driverless. I think the roles as a truck driver will transition to more a back up pilot and more focused on maintaining the load and truck as years go on.
My 2c
that can’t be done by non human things.
why not?
@jv: Because there are too many variables that cant be taken care of without direct supervision and continuous checking.
Unless they put ai robots that do the functions of humans in the autonomous trucks - there will always be a need for a human in some truck jobs.
Because there are too many variables that cant be taken care of without direct supervision and continuous checking.
Quantum computing will solve this.
@jv: Quantum computing will change tyres and readjust loose chains/ loose loads and complete roadside fixes?
@jv: Robots could technically do almost everything in the future.
I think the story line of terminator is more likely to play out before that ever happens.
People will be necessary as long as a (relatively) stable civilisation exists despite technological advancement.
Physical jobs, but not ones on a production line or that can be automated. Think for example a solar PV system installer.
Mechatroinc and robo engineering advancements are pretty obvious. Maybe these jobs will be replaced later than intellectual jobs, but they will be replaced eventually. Before 20-30 years imo
I'm afraid it's turtles robots all the way down.
Airline pilots. Who would buy a seat on an autonomously flown passenger jet? And robot remedial maintenance techs. Robots will be able to autonomously replicate themselves but their ability to troubleshoot and repair themselves is further off. By which time they'll be building themselves cheaply enough to be discarded when they fault.
Imagine some sort of 'autoflyer' that controlled the aircraft in place of a human pilot. Inconceivable that passengers would agree to its use.
Autopilot has been used for over 100 already
I tend to agree. As a Airlines pilot myself the amount of broken stuff (read MEL , CDL) on a supposedly state of the airplanes are daily.
Also the amount of time we have to take control over the autoland (read the plane trying to land itself) is more frequently than we like to.
Lastly if automation is that good, do you know what happened when all the stuff go wrong on the automation? The machine goes "hey, i can't do it, good luck human, beep beep beep and disconnect"
If I think about this a bit, the thing that seems clear is that automation is likely faster and more precise.
Imagine a CNC machine.
The jobs where this will be applied first is where it saves the most costs - not the guys clearing the tables at the food court, but maybe a dentist or a surgeon?
If the productivity of those healthcare providers could be multiplied, everyone will benefit from better health across the community.
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You know real life passionate eyyy yooo between two lovers
OH F*&^!
It's manifestly good news for planet earth if humans stop breeding, and prefer humping robots. God bless AI
What's the name of the doomsday death cult you're in?
professional dole bludger
Sparky💪🏿
I think there is a difference between cooking - the process of combining ingredients and following a set heating process - and what a chef does.
My bread maker automatically makes raisin bread.
A chef might see that apricots are in peak season, and with a little cardamon will make a sublime dessert pastry.
A nail gun with an articulated arm can probably already frame up a kit home.
A carpenter can decide, actually, the usual approach won't work here, we'll need something different because the span is 300mm longer so we don't encroach on that easement.
Lots and lots of the AI discussion has been driven by coders seeing the tool can do a fair impersonation of a junior programmer, and assuming the little bit they know about other jobs will be equally simple to impersonate.