It will be easier to replace fully remote jobs with AI, a leading WFH expert says

• Fully remote jobs may be more vulnerable to new AI tech, one expert says.
• Stanford's Nicholas Bloom said AI was likely to impact "low-level, fully remote workers," per Fortune.

Fully remote workers may be more vulnerable to new AI tech than their in-person counterparts.

That's according to Stanford University economist and leading work-from-home expert, Nicholas Bloom. In a virtual panel organized by software company, Scoop, Bloom said "fully remote, relatively low-level things like call centers, data entry, payroll" jobs were at the highest risk of being replaced by AI.

"If I were fully remote, you could replicate me with AI," he said during the panel, which was reported by Fortune. "You could get close to my image. You could do my voice. You could probably get much of the discussion from ChatGPT."

However the buzzy new tech isn't up to taking the in-person side of his job just yet, Bloom said.

"If I have to go in and teach people, the robots [that could do the same] are enormously clunky – like, 2,000 pounds," he said. "There's no way any robots will look like a human, even within the next 10 years," he added.

According to Bloom, workers with low-skill and commonly outsourced jobs are also at a "real risk of being replaced by AI in the next three to five years."

"I think we're going to see a lot of impact [among] low-level, fully remote workers," he added.

However, the new tech still lacks the necessary empathy for most work and is unlikely to replace jobs that require some in-person work, he said, adding that AI could actually help to boost a hybrid worker's productivity.

Workers have already found ways to leverage new AI-powered products to help with their workloads. Some companies have even started making their own AI tools aimed at improving worker productivity.