COLUMBUS, Ohio — Over the past few months, we’ve seen artificial intelligence advance in many ways.
Employers are starting to take a closer look at how programs like ChatGPT can help their workplace. But are there jobs artificial intelligence cannot replace?
Hun Lee studies artificial intelligence at The Ohio State University College of Business and has done extensive research on this topic. Through his research, he said there are three main qualities of jobs that cannot be replaced by AI.
The first involves in-person interaction or a physical presence. Oftentimes these are entertainers, performers or certain presenters that people connect with.
"Say you’re listening to a song, we know I can listen to a song in my headset or my computer, maybe even better quality. But we like to feel alive. We want to feel the vibe, in-person.” said Lee.
The second type of job is one that requires complex problem-solving and judgment. Often times these are jobs held by first responders, like firefighters and nurses, who have a special skill that requires a judgment call.
"You deal with a changing situation, an uncertain situation. You cannot ultimately do that certain type of processing. At the end of the day, someone has to physically fight the fire” he said.
The last type is jobs that require human connection and empathy to help people feel a certain way, such as psychologists. Having this human connection forces people to follow through with their goals and feel validated, something a computer cannot do.
Moving forward, as AI becomes more common, Lee believes employers will continue looking at the cost-benefit of replacing certain jobs with artificial intelligence. Through his research, he found people with jobs in upper-level management were, in some cases, almost twice as likely to want to learn about AI in the workplace than those in lower-level management.
"You may lose your job without even knowing it's coming, so you need to know what you’re up against,” said Lee.