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Lawyers, doctors and accountants may be redundant in 20 years after scientists have claimed their jobs will be taken over by robots .

A study into the future of human employment has predicted a surge in machine-led work such as robotic counsellors, body part makers and virtual lawyers.

This is bad news for those in the profession , who could see themselves out of a job due to highly-skilled artificial intelligence.

The worrying research suggests that humans will be replaced because robots are able to produce better results.

A report compiled by professor of management practice at London Business School, Lynda Gratton, and futurologist David A. Smith, looked at different sector jobs.

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These included communications, robotics, space, environment and medicine.

The report analysed the types of work that will be critical for the future - and ruled that they will be more efficient and successful if undertaken by machine.

While it's long been the case that machines have taken over repetitive and laborious tasks, the study found that advancing technology may cause the disappearance of middle-skilled roles.

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In biology and medicine, doctors and scientists were predicted to take on new titles such as 'old-age wellness managers', 'body part makers' and 'obesity consultants'.

And 'drowned city specialists' were named as an integral part of the energy and environment sector along with 'insect-based food developers'.

Futurologist David A. Smith said in many sectors machines will produce better solutions to problems than the average human.

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Commenting on the '100 jobs of the future report,' commissioned by BrightHR, David said: "As a result of advances in machine learning, the task of interrogating large amounts of data is likely to become fully-automated, making jobs with any systematic component vulnerable.

"In fields such as law, accountancy and medicine, machines are likely to produce generally better answers than humans.

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"While job substitution by machines is alarming for those caught up in it, we know, from experience, that we have always been able to adapt and find new roles for ourselves."

Professor Linda Gratton believes employees need to think more creatively about how they achieve career progression in the future.

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Prof Gratton said: "Studies have suggested that a third of jobs in Europe will be replaced by technology over the next two decades.

"As middle-skilled roles disappear, workers may find that the 'rung' above them no longer exists, and that the career ladder may begin to look more like a career web.

"The ultimate implication is that workers cannot now expect to gain seniority by moving 'up', but rather moving sideways by gaining additional complex skills."