Will ChatGPT take my job? Experts reveal the five professions at most risk from AI

AI chatbot ChatGPT has sparked fears that artificial intelligence could automate millions of jobs out of existence.

Zak Saidi, creative director and AI Lead of creative agency IZSRI, which already uses AI to automate some writing tasks, says that the impact of AI will be felt across many sectors within the next three years.

He said he already uses ChatGPT to draft written content and other AI tools for attention marketing and detecting social media trends.

ChatGPT has hit 100 million users just two months after launch – by comparison, it took TikTok nine months to reach the milestone – and secured a $10 billion investment from Microsoft.

So which jobs are most likely to be replaced by ‘generative AI’? And how soon could it happen? 

Copywriters and bloggers

Copywriters, bloggers and people who produce online copy could be among the first to fall in the AI revolution, Saidi believes.

He says, ‘We work with a lot of copywriters and there is certainly a lot of industry talk around the replacement of content writers by AI technology.

‘ChatGPT is free, copywriters aren’t – we expect more tech-savvy small businesses to turn to ChatGPT and its AI counterparts when generating more content.’

Buzzfeed announced earlier this year that it would use ChatGPT to generate some online content.

Tech site CNET faced controversy last month after it was revealed that the site had used AI to generate articles. Some of these articles were then found to be riddled with errors.

AI-powered content creation platform Jasper says tens of thousands of clients have already used its software to create adverts, blogs and marketing emails.

But the future isn’t quite as bleak for highly skilled copywriters, Saidi said. 

‘Nothing, we believe, can replace human creativity. In its current form ChatGPT generates highly generic content,’ he explained.

‘But it’s still a huge concern for some copywriters that as this tech develops in its sophistication that at a certain point a lot of businesses will turn to AI to provide their content writing services.’

Retail staff

Artificial intelligence will lead to ‘serious job losses’ across the retail sector, Saidi believes.  

‘As we’ve seen, checkout staff, customer service assistants and personal shoppers are slowly being replaced by AI bots – powered by the exact same kind of artificial learning technology that ChatGPT works off,’ he said.

Artificial intelligence company Standard AI acquired self-checkout company Skip this year with a goal to create ‘autonomous retail’, to ‘give retailers immediate relief from their labor challenges’, the company said.

Saidi says, ‘In some ways, it can be said that AI works to free workers from the more menial tasks, giving them the time to take on more managerial and creative roles.

‘But we have to consider that there are only so many managers that can manage retail stores!’

Software engineers and cybersecurity experts

As well as producing convincing text in English, ChatGPT can also write computer code in languages such as Python.

Demonstrations shown off by OpenAI show ChatGPT debugging code in response to prompts.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI also makes a different version, Codex, specifically for writing computer code, which Microsoft uses in its GitHub Copilot.

Saidi says that such technology could have an immediate and wide-ranging impact on developers – and even cybersecurity experts.

‘Now, this is where we can start to get a bit concerned, even with applications like ChatGPT still in their rudimentary form,’ he continued.

‘ChatGPT generates lines of html code without having to think, solving complex errors in sequence of code infinitely faster than a human.

‘This, to a certain extent, is throwing the role of supporting software engineers into question.

‘Whilst you still do need a human to plan out a software development project, ChatGPT can act as a crucial tool to resolve broken code and build basic applications – a role that would have been previously reserved for junior software engineers.’

OpenAI is currently hiring hundreds of developers to ‘train’ the AI to improve its coding abilities.

Cybercriminals are already boasting of using tools such as ChatGPT to automate everything from writing malware to creating dark web markets – and Saidi says that AI tools could impact cybersecurity professionals’ jobs.

Graphic designers and visual artists

Graphic designers could be replaced with AI tools as well, with tools such as Dall-E creating around 2million new images every day (file photo)

Graphic art tools such as Dall-E, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney could impact the livelihoods of designers, illustrators and visual artists, Saidi says.

Dall-E (also operated by OpenAI) generates 2million images per day, the company announced last year.

Midjourney sparked controversy when it won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair.

Stock image giant Getty Images launched legal proceedings against Stability AI, maker of Stable Diffusion, alleging that it has copied millions of its images.

Saidi says that the ability to produce images cheaply and rapidly will make such technology very tempting for small businesses without the budget to pay for graphic designers, artists or illustrators.

Saidi says, ‘It certainly puts the role of graphic designers and illustrators into question. Like ChatGPT, the imagery can be generic and tricky to refine, but with some work and optimization you can whip up some stunning visuals.

‘Many still believe, and rightly so, that human creativity will always be at the core of design, with some creatives looking to AI for artistic inspiration, rather than a replacement for their assistant.’

More roles in tech?

As this technology displaces current roles in retail and marketing, Saidi believes it will create new roles in tech companies.

He says, ‘We anticipate, and are witnessing the very genesis of, a huge recruitment drive in the tech industry, likely picking up a lot of retail and admin staff that have been displaced by the introduction of AI.’