99% of jobs could vanish by 2027 – only 5 types may survive, warns AI expert |
A leading artificial intelligence researcher has issued a stark warning about the future of work, arguing that most human jobs could disappear within the next five years and that society may pass a technological point of no return by 2045. Speaking at length about artificial general intelligence, automation and the limits of human relevance, Dr Roman Yampolskiy said the coming changes would be unlike anything seen in previous industrial shifts. Dr Yampolskiy, a Latvian computer scientist and professor at the University of Louisville who has published more than 100 academic papers on AI safety and risk, made the comments while appearing on The Diary of a CEO, hosted by Steven Bartlett.
‘There is not a job which cannot be automated’
During the conversation, Dr Yampolskiy argued that the arrival of artificial general intelligence, systems capable of outperforming humans across most cognitive tasks, could happen as early as 2027, with dramatic consequences for employment by the end of the decade. “In five years all the physical labour can also be automated,” he said. “So we’re looking at a world where we have levels of unemployment we never seen before. Not talking about 10 percent unemployment which is scary but 99 percent.”
Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a prominent computer scientist, author, and researcher specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) safety and security.
Unlike previous technological revolutions, he said, there would be no new category of human work waiting on the other side. “There is not a job which cannot be automated,” he said. “That’s never happened before. All the inventions we previously had were kind of a tool for doing something.” Even creative and media work would not be spared. Dr Yampolskiy suggested that content creation itself, including podcasting, could be done more efficiently by machines, telling Bartlett that his own profession could eventually become obsolete because AI systems are faster, more accurate and more data-driven. “All you have left is jobs where for whatever reason you prefer another human would do it for you,” he said. “There are jobs where you want a human, maybe you’re rich and you want a human accountant for whatever reason.” To illustrate the point, he added: “Warren Buffett would not switch to AI. He would use his human accountant.”
The five types of work that might survive
Pressed on whether any human roles could endure, Dr Yampolskiy outlined a narrow set of exceptions, though he stressed they would support only a tiny fraction of today’s workforce. One category involved what he described as a “fetish” for human-made goods. “You might get some tiny subset of a market for people who still prefer man-made crafts,” he said, comparing it to the premium people pay for handmade products over mass-produced alternatives. But, he added, it would be “a small subset” and not enough to sustain large-scale employment. Another area was work rooted in lived human experience. Counsellors and similar roles could retain value, he argued, because humans uniquely understand what it feels like to be human. “In a world of superintelligence which is defined as better than all humans in all domains, what can you contribute?” he said. “You know better than anyone what it’s like to be you.”
Most jobs may vanish to AI, but experts say a few, like AI oversight and counseling, could survive/ Image: Pexels
Two further roles would exist because of AI rather than despite it. One would involve oversight and regulation. While Dr Yampolskiy said fully controlling AI may be impossible in the long run, he argued that human supervision could slow the pace of change. “At this point we’re trying to get more time,” he said, suggesting regulation could stretch a five-year transformation into a 50-year one. The other would be intermediaries, people who understand AI systems well enough to explain and deploy them for organisations and individuals who do not.
‘Every day, as a percentage of total knowledge, I get dumber’
Looking further ahead, Dr Yampolskiy warned that humanity could cross what is known as the technological singularity by around 2045, the point at which AI-driven progress accelerates beyond human comprehension or control. “That’s the definition of singularity,” he said. “The point beyond which we cannot see, understand, predict, or see the intelligence itself or what is happening in the world.” He illustrated the idea using consumer technology. “If I have an iPhone, I can look forward to a new one coming out next year,” he said. “Imagine now that this process of researching and developing this phone is automated. It happens every six months, every three months, every month, week, day, hour, minute, second.” “You cannot keep up with 30 iterations of iPhone in one day.” In reality, he suggested, researchers may already be falling behind. “Apparently though, we might already be there,” he said, admitting that even specialists struggle to track the latest developments. “Every day, as a percentage of total knowledge, I get dumber. I may still know more because I keep reading. But as a percentage of overall knowledge, we’re all getting dumber.”
For Dr Yampolskiy, the concern is not simply technological progress, but what happens when human labour, judgment and relevance are no longer economically necessary, a shift he believes will arrive far faster than most societies are prepared for.
