Jobs that may survive in the Era of Technological Singularity

 (The writer is Distinguished Advisor Emeritus at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad.)

Nowadays the world scientists and technologists are engaged in hot discussions as if Artificial Intelligence (AI) can surpass human intelligence. They are expecting a future when technological growth will become uncontrollable. They call it an era of technological singularity when Artificial Intelligence (AI) surpasses human intelligence and there will be complete automation and digitalization. There will be unique opportunities and complex challenges where efficiency, productivity and innovation will be the hallmark. The situation might also result in jobs displacement. Certainly, new jobs will appear, but will there be professions that will survive? That is the question.

According to World Economic Forum, three future scenarios seem to occur between 2030 and 2045. The first assumption is that if there are strong public/private reskilling programmes, progressive labour policies and large-scale investment in human and AI augmentation, then this would result in net job creation in health, governance, creative industries, skilled trades, and high-quality hybrid roles. If inequality is moderated by active labour, then more jobs will transform than those that would disappear.

The second assumption is that if there are rapid corporate AI adoption, insufficient public reskilling and concentration in capital and knowledge, the outcome will be high productivity and wealth creation. In this case, many mid-skilled routine roles would decline; high-skilled and very low-skilled routine roles like human care and creative maintenance will persist. Knowledge workers and large-scale service workforce will grow.

The third assumption is that if there is extremely fast automation without commensurate reskilling, social support and insufficient regulatory regime, it would result in large-scale displacements, persistent structural unemployment and politico-economic unrest. Jobs that would concentrate on human care, emergency services, and high-trust professions will survive (The Wall Street Journal).

It seems that many jobs will not only survive but also thrive. There may be both large displacements and large gains. The World Economic Forum’s Future Outcomes 2025 predicts millions of roles displaced and millions created. Outcomes will depend on reskilling, policy and business strategy. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that to maximize survivability, workers must combine domain with social and emotional skills, and complex problem solving. Leaning must be continuous and a strong policy for upskilling.

Criteria for job survival: According to World Economic Forum, the jobs that require empathy, complex judgment, physical dexterity in unstructured environments, creativity, value-based decision-making and system-level oversights will survive.

Jobs that require emotional support and trust such as nursing, counselling, and coaching will not be displaced. Specialists in cyber security, AI ethics and digital governance will be in high demand. Engineers, strategists, and system architects, who combine knowledge with creativity, will thrive. Policymakers, regulators, diplomats, negotiators, parliamentarians, organizational leaders, climate and sustainability experts will continue but in their new innovative roles. Disaster response teams will also remain intact continuing to perform since there is no end to catastrophe.

Mustafa Suleman In his book, ‘The Coming Wave’, Mustafa Suleman writes: “In the past, new technologies put people out of work, producing what the Economist John Maynard Keynes called “technological unemployment”. In Keney’s view, this was a good thing, as it will increase productivity and free uptime for further innovation and leisure. Tech-related examples are myriad. The introduction of power looms put old-fashioned weavers out of business. Motor cars meant for carriage-makers and horse stables were no longer needed; light bulb factories did great as candlemakers went bust”.

The real scenario is that we will have to prepare for the coming wave. Should we compete with AI or collaborate with it for the greater good? McKinsey study estimated that half of all jobs could see more than half of their tasks automated by machines in the next seven years while fifty-two million Americans will work in roles with a maximum exposure to automation by 2030. Same is likely to happen in other countries.

In the era of singularity, any competition between human intelligence and AI will not be meaningful or productive. Collaboration will be the best option. Humans’ aim will have to make a partnership and not domination. Collaboration will optimize work, governance and society. Based on human emotional intelligence, AI will speed up precision computations. Humans will be the judges, and AI will analyze and predict results of complex problems. Ethics, empathy and intuitive undertakings will be the fields in which humans will have to dominate.

In conclusion, I would say that for a peaceful and progressive future, human concentration should be the actions that must be taken for jobs survival. Learning, unlearning and relearning, deskilling and reskilling must be the overall aim of humans. The key would lie in cultivating literacy, ethical governance and shared vision where technology empowers humans rather than replacing them. In this context, singularity would not only be a threat but also a transformation opportunity for collective advancement.

According to The Free press, this technology [singularity] can usher in an age of flourishing the likes of which we have never seen. There will be more leisure time and socialization. It will also foment a crisis about what it is to be a person at all.