The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) is currently being heralded as a once-in-a-century opportunity among start-ups and major technology corporations. Further, there is a debate on how AI can (or should) be regulated so we decided to survey 1,000 U.S. consumers about how they feel AI will impact them and society overall.
Along with our AI survey results, U.S. occupation projections through 2026 are included in this article for the top 20 growing and declining jobs. I conclude with identifying six potential industries of the future that AI could create over the next 10 to 20 years.
“We don’t need an advanced machine to calculate where our competition is outpacing us. We can see our weaknesses with the naked eye: the exclusion of AI from our high-level national agenda, a reduction in science and technology funding, and immigration curbs all harm our competitiveness. The question is whether we’ll correct course before it’s too late.” – Amir Husain, CEO of the Austin, Texas-based SparkCognition, a leading US artificial intelligence company
Zpryme AI Survey Results
Our survey results found that one-third of Americans are still not familiar with AI. More than twice as many Americans said AI would open up new job opportunities (18%) for them compared to those who said AI would eliminate their job (8%). The survey further found that Americans are split on the expected impact AI will have on society in the near future (25% positive and 25% negative).
Obviously, we still have much work to do to educate consumers about AI and we should be diligent in examining the pros and cons of AI to ensure fears are appropriately addressed.
Source: Zpryme U.S. consumer survey of 1,000 respondents (November 2017)
Source: Zpryme U.S. consumer survey of 1,000 respondents (November 2017)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupation Projections, 2016 – 2026
Given that Americans were equally split on AI’s impact on society we analyzed U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) occupation projections from 2016 to 2026 to identify potential occupations that could grow or shrink due to technological advancements from automation and AI.
- To no surprise major job losses in manufacturing and administrative positions are projected to occur by 2026. However, the losses in computer programming are surprising taking into account the amount of education required for such jobs.
- The aging U.S. population correlates to the rapidly growing jobs in healthcare.
- The decreasing costs in renewable energy and strong state-level renewable targets appear to be driving projected growth in solar and wind energy jobs.
Top 20 Jobs with the Largest Growth by 2026
According the U.S. BLS, occupations that will see the largest net increases by 2026 include:
- Personal care aids, food servers, nurses, home health aides, and software developers.
- Software developers will see a net job increase of 253,000 by 2026 (compared to 2016).
Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Top 20 Fastest Growing U.S. Jobs by 2026
According the U.S. BLS, the fastest growing occupations by 2026 indicate:
- Renewable energy jobs in solar and wind will be the top two fastest growing jobs by 2026, growing by 105% and 96%, respectively.
- Jobs in healthcare make up the top 3 – 6 fastest growing occupations (home health aides, physician assistants, personal care aides, and nurse practitioners).
- Statistician jobs will increase by 36%.
Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Top 20 Jobs on the Decline by 2026
According the U.S. BLS, occupations that will see the largest net losses by 2026 include:
- Secretaries and administrative assistants, team assemblers, inspectors, equipment assemblers, data entry, and tellers.
- Computer programmers will see a net job decrease of 23,000 by 2026 (compared to 2016).
Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Top 20 Fastest Declining U.S. Jobs by 2026
According the U.S. BLS, occupations that will see the fastest decreases are:
- Locomotive firers, respiratory techs, parking workers, word processors, watch repairers, and equipment installers.
Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Industries of the Future
What is not captured in the U.S. BLS projections are the new industries that AI will help create over the next 10 to 20 years. Below are six new industries we predict will be created or rapidly expanded as a result of AI.
- Robots and Androids: A robot in every home will require a robust value chain and countless jobs. What seemed like a dream almost 10 years ago appears more of a reality than ever.
- Extended Reality (XR) Architecture: The merging of our physical and digital world will create new ways to work, live, and play. This emerging industry will literally create our life in real-time, with the only limit being our imagination.
- Cyber Enforcement: The rise of digital currency and our increased time in virtual environments will require armies of cyber protectors to thwart malicious attacks from human and synthetic agents who attempt to harm and profit off of humanity’s digital way of life. We predict cyber enforcement jobs will eventually outnumber traditional law enforcement jobs.
- Digital Currency: As traditional financial banking markets disappear, the digital currency market will be a thriving sector for the foreseeable future.
- Decarbonization (carbon removing technologies): New generations of robots and impacts of climate change will ignite a race to advance technologies that decarbonize the planet.
- Intergalactic Networking: Living on Mars will not be enough. Humans will need to be able to connect across the cosmos. This will require millions of new jobs and skill sets to pull off. In fact, Vint Cerf is already thinking about this.
Side note: Its still too early to say if the jobs mentioned above will be done by humans or robots.
To learn more about how AI is being applied today and the industries that are working on AI be sure to check out Time Machine 2017 taking place in Austin, Texas on December 13-14.
