Within five years robots and so-called intelligent agents will eliminate many positions in customer service, trucking and taxi services, amounting to 6 percent of jobs, according to a Forrester report.

"By 2021, a disruptive tidal wave will begin," said Brian Hopkins, VP at Forrester, in the report. "Solutions powered by AI/cognitive technology will displace jobs, with the biggest impact felt in transportation, logistics, customer service, and consumer services."

Intelligent agents, chat bots and digital assistants include Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Alphabet's GoogleNow and Facebook's Messenger bots. They are powered by artificial intelligence and they can already understand a person's behavior, interpret their needs and even make decisions for them.

AI-based services and apps will eventually change most industries, resulting in a redistribution of jobs, Forrester found. Self-driving cars, for example, will have wide-ranging impacts on both the auto and transportation industries.

