Microsoft’s exit offer has triggered a lurking fear among working professionals. Is artificial intelligence (AI) finally set to gobble up jobs? Microsoft has termed it an offer, not a layoff. And the company has not said that it plans to replace humans with AI. But the question persists. So, let us explore the answer by going back in history and then travelling into the future.
The personal computer created professions in computing, software engineering and desktop publishing. The internet created online entrepreneurs, web developers, graphic designers and digital service providers. Social media created an entirely new source of income: content creation.
Similarly, AI too could spawn entirely new occupations and even industries. Karyalok takes a light-hearted peek into the future to see what occupations today’s professionals could take up if they lose their jobs to artificial intelligence:
Software Engineers: They could turn into one-person companies, creating and selling specialised software.
Coders: They could design intelligent agents that manage entire business operations.
AI Professionals: They could build customised AI services for various establishments, such as hospitals, factories and schools.
Data Analysts: They could become independent entrepreneurs selling real-time insights into agricultural markets, property markets or consumer behaviour.
Writers: AI could enable them to create interactive stories in which audiences participate and characters respond. They could also develop personalised educational books, documentaries and games.
Customer-Service Executives: They could use the very same AI to create and operate multilingual customer-support businesses, serving companies across the world.
Translators: They could turn into local-language experience designers, using AI to help businesses create entire digital services for different regions of India.
Bookkeepers: They could develop simple, inexpensive business-management applications for small traders without needing programmers.
Personal Historians: They could turn family photographs, letters and memories into interactive family histories and charge customers for the service.
Digital Experience Creators: They could create personalised virtual museums, edutainment content and travel experiences.
Personal Learning Designers: They could create customised courses for children, professionals and elderly learners.
Virtual Business Builders: They could help people turn an idea into a functioning enterprise using AI tools.
People who currently sell their labour could achieve something even more extraordinary. Thanks to AI, they could become creators of products, services and businesses that now require entire organisations.
In fact, the next great Indian entrepreneur could well be a person whose old profession was lost and who discovered that AI could help them create an even better new one.