Sydney law student Erika Ly has grown up as a digital native and is not scared that digital disruption will destroy jobs. "When there is a threat, there is always an opportunity. It depends on your mindset," she said. Ms Ly heads a NSW chapter of a not-for-profit organisation called The Legal Forecast run by young lawyers and students to help the profession adapt to digital disruption. The group offers workshops and events to raise awareness about changes. She said new roles opening up included data scientists in law firms and legal technology consulting. "We are very aware of technological disruption and also the opportunities that it may bring," she said. The McKinsey report estimates 3.5 million to 6.5 million full-time equivalent jobs could be affected, with 1.8 million to 5 million workers needing to change professions.

It says disruption by industry could range from 16 per cent of jobs in the education sector to up to 33 per cent of jobs in transport. The impact could vary from 21 per cent in city centres to 30 per cent in mining regions including the Pilbara. The McKinsey report, The automation opportunity, estimates that between 25 and 46 per cent of job tasks in Australia could be automated by 2030. "If seized, this opportunity could add $1.1 trillion to $4 trillion to the economy over the next 15 years, providing every Australian with $4000 to $11,000 in additional income per year by 2030," the report says. "Achieving these benefits depends on ensuring displaced workers can get new jobs.

"The economy will adjust, however, and new jobs will flow from the higher productivity that automation generates, as well as other trends including rising consumer incomes, greater health spending on ageing and infrastructure investment." Radiologist Luke Oakden-Rayner. Luke Oakden-Rayner a radiologist and artificial intelligence researcher for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) said his profession was facing significant change in the next five to 10 years. But radiologists would be needed to keep an eye on the technology to ensure it was safe and up to date. "Instead of removing radiology from existence we are going to see the role of radiologists change," he said. "We have seen job creation as well as potential for machines to do what humans currently do.

"But medicine moves slower than technology in general. We have only started seeing the clinical use of technology in the last year." RANZCR is working on recommendations to the federal government on what is needed to regulate technology to ensure patient safety. Charlie Taylor, McKinsey senior partner, said automation and Artificial Intelligence will be disruptive and "more people will be affected than we might think". "Numerous jobs and professions will change,” he said.

“However, if we embrace automation with an eye to our national interests, we can develop new business opportunities, boost productivity and create better-paying jobs, keeping employment high and re-invigorating per capita income growth sufficiently to offset the impact of an ageing population.” Economist and director of the Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work, Jim Stanford, said there was no guarantee that the number of jobs created as a result of automation will offset the number of jobs lost. "And there is no guarantee that the new jobs created will go to the people who lost the old jobs," he said. "It will take effort and determined policy to make sure that there is enough work and that the people who need it the most are getting a shot at the jobs." Dr Stanford said Australian companies were not racing towards automation and the fear of robots taking jobs was a distraction from stagnant wages which was caused by humans, not machines.