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- The widespread adoption of AI is expected to eliminate some jobs but create others.
- New AI jobs, which may not require a college degree, could offer high salaries for workers.
- The number of AI jobs is already on the rise.
New AI technologies like ChatGPT are expected to threaten some jobs in the years ahead, but it's not all bad news: AI's growing popularity could lead to the creation of entirely new professions for workers of the future.
According to a report released in September by the World Economic Forum, telemarketers, credit authorizers, statistical assistants, and bank tellers are among the roles most at risk of being replaced by AI someday. The report, which analyzed over 19,000 job tasks across 867 occupations and assessed their exposure to AI, also detailed several areas where there is room for AI job development in the years ahead.
So far this year, there have been over 10,000 job postings related to generative AI from companies like Meta, Amazon, and Capital One, according to a recent study from the research firm Lightcast. Some of these postings list salaries of well over $100,000.
While these roles will likely require certain levels of expertise, it's possible that online courses and training programs — not college degrees — will be an accessible path for many Americans who want to land a job in the AI industry.
"With AI, it's conceivable that students might now find themselves learning skills in college that are obsolete by the time they graduate," Chris Hyams, the CEO of the job site Indeed, wrote in a September essay.
Here are the five new jobs that AI could create in the future, per the World Economic Forum.
AI model and prompt engineers
An AI prompt engineer writes questions for chatbots to test and improve their answers. This gig, which pays as much as $375,000 per year, could be "the job of 2024," James Neave, head of data science for the job search engine Adzuna, previously told Business Insider.
"This job didn't even exist before generative AI came into the spotlight, and now companies are clamoring to hire people skilled in making the most of the new technologies," he said. "At the moment, job openings for this role are quite small, but we see that growing as more companies look to unlock generative AI gains."
As new AI tools continue to emerge, experts say engineers will be needed to guide their development.
Interface and interaction designers
Even if you think that ChatGPT is easy to learn, not everyone agrees. In part, interface and interaction designers could be responsible for tweaking AI tools to make them more accessible and user-friendly for wider audiences.
When OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, recently rolled out a version of the chatbot that responds to voice commands, it was likely due to the work of AI designers.
AI content creators
AI tools will make it possible for "AI content creators" to "rapidly produce in-depth content on a topic in any field or domain" per the World Economic Forum report. This content could include articles, books, teaching materials, movie scripts, and music.
For example, a screenwriter could use an AI tool as part of the writing process for her next movie but still consider herself to be the screenwriter — not an AI content creator.
But as some individuals increasingly rely on — and become an expert at — working with certain AI tools, a whole new job category might emerge.
Nearly 95% of traditional content creators, which include social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, are already using AI to assist with their work, according to a survey of 660 US creators released in May by The Influencer Marketing Factory marketing firm.
Data curators and trainers
AI tools like ChatGPT are trained with endless amounts of data from books, articles, and websites, but the quality of a chatbot's outputs is only as good as the data that is used to train it.
Data curators and trainers will be responsible for managing the data that goes into AI models and evaluating its quality.
"Data quality and integrity checks are critical and will lead to the development of a dedicated, specialized workforce," the World Economic Forum report found.
Ethics and governance specialists
AI chatbots are far from perfect. They're capable of churning out biased, harmful, and unethical content, per the World Economic Forum report — not to mention disinformation. While data curators and trainers would partially be responsible for reducing these negative impacts, ethics and governance specialists could be involved in scrutinizing and testing AI tools before they are released to the public.
While AI companies could employ some of these individuals, government regulators and lawyers will likely play a role as well, the World Economic Forum report said.
Have you switched careers to work in the AI industry? Are you willing to share your story and details about your pay? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@insider.com.