...
By Thomas Westerholm
Life & Trends Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A new report from artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has taken a closer look at which jobs were most at risk due to the rise of AI and large-language models (LLMs).
The report, which was released on March 5, found that AI at present is, "far from reaching its theoretical capacity," and that it is currently achieving only a "fraction" of the coverage made possible by the technology.
Additionally, the report did not find evidence of unemployment in "highly exposed" workers, although the research did show signs of a slowdown in hiring, especially among younger workers.
Read More on Tech
...
Which Jobs Are at Risk?
According to Anthropic, the most exposed workers demographically tended to be female, older, higher educated and higher paid.
The research showed that currently, AI is being utilized most in jobs involving programming and math—many coders are using AI to produce their work. Computer programmers were 74 percent exposed and data entry workers were 67 percent exposed.
Customer service representatives were also more than 70 percent exposed.
Meanwhile, categories for "legal" and "arts and media" were both relatively high in "observed AI usage" in comparison to their "theoretical AI usage."
Both office and administration positions and sales positions have seen high levels of observed AI usage as well.
Which Jobs Are Less at Risk?
However, the company suggested that artificial intelligence is currently being underutilized most in areas like architecture and engineering. Their graph also suggested that life and social science jobs are far from their theoretical AI coverage.
The least exposed workers, unsurprisingly, were jobs that require a physical presence like installation and repair, grounds maintenance and transportation. Additionally, food and service workers appear relatively inoculated from AI.
Anthropic noted that meaningful change in the labor market is yet to occur, comparing the impact to offshoring as opposed to COVID.
"It is possible that the impacts of AI will be unmistakable," the company wrote.
"This framework is most useful when the effects are ambiguous—and could help identify the most vulnerable jobs before displacement is visible."
What People Are Saying
Contributors to Reddit's r/artificialintelligence forum were often skeptical of the report amid more than 600 comments.
"These tech guys really want the public to believe that putting a kid in front of a computer is better than putting a kid in the classroom," a critic remarked.
"Sitting your kid in front of a computer is about allowing Skinner box training on a child just like social media.
"Addiction instead of school."
Another commentator pointed out that as AI proliferates, higher education—especially when it teaches you to think critically—becomes incredibly important.
"The goal of college shouldn’t just be immediate job training," they wrote.
"It should be learning how to think, how to understand the world and how to keep learning for the rest of your life.
"In an era where AI is accelerating change, that kind of education is probably more valuable than ever."
Finally, a fellow critic is apparently sick of the "hype cycles" in tech: "Transportation wont be affected? Yet a couple of years ago self-driving cars were all the rage... all professional drivers were supposed to lose their jobs.
"It's tough to take all this seriously after working in tech for a couple of years."
What's Next
Anthropic says it hopes to keep tabs on this data and update it as appropriate.
"An established approach may help future observers separate signal from noise," the company wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Anthropic for comment via email.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines