White-collar jobs will be more exposed to AI, says new analysis

According to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution, white-collar jobs may be most exposed to AI's spread while it may be much less of a factor in the work of most lower-paid service workers.

Technological innovation has already laid the foundation for higher productivity, better-income jobs, and socio-economic prosperity. In the foreseeable future, artificial intelligence-fuelled automation will completely transform the workplace, replacing aging and unskilled workforce. With this gradual shift towards automation, comes the great fear of job displacement.

The pace of technological progress, demographic and economic structures will determine how and to what extent the new wave of automation will affect the future of work in developing and emerging economies across the world.

A new study has found that better-educated, better-paid workers along with production workers may be most exposed to AI, in opposition to previous studies that say less-educated, lower-paid service workers may be most exposed to AI-led displacement in the near future.

Our analysis shows that workers with graduate or professional degrees will be almost four times as exposed to AI as workers with just a high school degree. Holders of bachelor's degrees will be the most exposed by education level, more than five times as exposed to AI than workers with just a high school degree.

Brookings

According to the analysis by the Brookings Institution, white-collar jobs may be most exposed to AI's spread while it may be much less of a factor in the work of most lower-paid service workers.

The key findings of the study are:

• AI could affect work in virtually every occupational group
• Better-paid, white-collar occupations may be most exposed to AI, as well as some agriculture and manufacturing positions
• Business-finance-tech industries will be more exposed, as will natural resource and production industries
• AI looks most destined to affectmen, prime-age workers, and white and Asian American workers
• Bigger, higher-tech metro areas and communities heavily involved in manufacturing are likely to experience the most AI-related disruption

The study analyses only the exposure of occupations to AI but doesn't predict whether it will create new forms of job or transform the existing one. Multiple studies in the past have shown that while AI-fuelled automation will displace certain types of jobs, it will also boost productivity and create new job opportunities and industries. Low skilled workers and older adults will be at high risk of automation and will likely bear the brunt of these technological changes.