As AI enthusiasts, it is easy for us to get excited over new AI-powered technologies like Tesla Autopilot, Google Duplex and Amazon Go. And we should be! After all, these are some of the most innovative and advanced achievements of the human intellect. They enable a future where people can spend less time on routine work that we require to do and spend more time doing things that we want to do.

Imagine being able to catch a nap or watch your favorite episodes of The Office during your hour-long commute from work, all within the convenience of your own car. Imagine being able to walk into a grocery store, grab what you want and walk out within seconds, without having to wait in long lines at the cashier counter. Imagine getting your customer support queries solved within minutes without having to wait an hour for a representative to be available. This sounds like a future we should strive towards building, and AI will enable us to get there very, very soon.

This phase of AI-led Automation is what the experts are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

However, there is a downside to all of this. And unfortunately, we do not talk about it often. It will become very easy to automate millions of jobs worldwide in an incredibly short space of time. Many more jobs will disappear than will be created, at least in a short period of the foreseeable future. This phase of AI-led Automation is what the experts are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

How bad can AI-led Automation impact our workforce?

According to multiple studies conducted by McKinsey, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Skynet Today, AI is estimated to displace about 1/3rd of the current jobs worldwide just in the next 10 years. This number is expected to be up to 40% in the United States and almost 50% in Japan.

Looking at the spectrum of various jobs that humans do today, it is clear how far-reaching the effects of automation will be. According to the renowned Computer Scientist Kai-Fu Lee, jobs that are routine and repetitive in nature will be amongst the first ones to disappear. The following graphic from his Ted talk presentation provides a powerful sense of what jobs we can expect to be automated away in the immediate future.