These 10 popular jobs have the highest percentage of skills that can be replicated by AI
Jacob Zinkula
- Here are 10 popular jobs with skills most replicable by AI, according to ChatGPT itself.
- The jobs site Indeed analyzed GPT-4's ability to perform skills required for these common jobs.
Your job is going to be affected by generative AI like ChatGPT. The question is just how much — and whether it will mean you'll be out of work.
In a new report, the jobs site Indeed's economic research team analyzed over 55 million job postings published between August 2022 and July 2023 and identified more than 2,600 skills employers were seeking.
The researchers then studied how well the GPT-4 version of the generative-AI tool ChatGPT could perform these skills. Their methodology included asking the chatbot itself what it was capable of — and then conducting an extensive human check of GPT's answers. Cory Stahle, an Indeed economist, told Insider the expertise of both humans and AI was incorporated.
"A lot of the research that has been done on this subject starts with the expert judgment and ends there," Stahle said. "But in this one, we used the generative AI tools, and then we used that human element and the expert judgment afterward to just make sure that things made sense."
The researchers concluded that every job on Indeed's platform had at least some exposure to generative AI. Roughly two-thirds of jobs were at least moderately exposed, the researchers found, meaning ChatGPT could perform at least half of the skills listed in the job posting. About 20% of jobs were highly exposed — meaning the AI could perform at least 80% of the skills.
Particularly in the most highly exposed jobs, workers could be at risk. In July, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that some jobs were "definitely going to go away" because of the expansion of generative AI.
But the major catch is that while GPT can perform at least some of the skills required for these jobs, like business operation and language, others still require a human touch, such as driving a car and hospitality.
In addition, Stahle said there were some limitations to the study that affected how the researchers interpreted their findings for all the roles analyzed. The main takeaway: Some theoretical AI skills don't translate well when it comes to actually doing a job.
"Ultimately ChatGPT says it can do a fair amount of skills OK," he said. "But even though it says it can do well at communicating, it's not necessarily going to do well at communicating if it's referring to communication at somebody's doorstep."
Which jobs were most and least at risk of being affected by AI? The Indeed researchers looked at the 25 most common jobs posted on Indeed over the period — which accounted for 22% of the platform's total job postings — and compiled the percentage of skills for each role that, per their analysis, ChatGPT could perform at excellent, good, fair, and poor levels.
The good news for workers: "Jobs with the most postings tend to be the least exposed," Stahle said.
The bad news: The report found ChatGPT could already perform many of the job skills in these roles — with room for improvement down the road.
Among the 25 most common jobs, here are the 10 roles that were most exposed to generative AI, per Indeed.
Delivery driver
Skills most at risk: The report found ChatGPT to be good or excellent at roughly half of the job skills associated with being a delivery driver, such as business operation, communication, math, and language. Business operation encompasses skills related to operating a business, including business development and time management.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 40% of the skills, the major one being vehicle operation, which was mentioned in over 75% of analyzed postings.
"When you look at the skills within delivery driver, it was more of those in-person, the actual driving of the truck or vehicle type skills, that were poor," Indeed's Stahle said. "Whereas a lot of the good or excellent would come down to more of the communication skills, the soft skills that would be required for a delivery driver."
In the future, however, advancements like drone delivery and autonomous vehicles combined with AI could put delivery drivers' jobs at risk.
Cashier
Skills most at risk: The report found ChatGPT to be good or excellent at roughly half of the job skills associated with being a cashier, such as business operation, language, and communication. Business operation was the most commonly sought skill, mentioned in about 24% of job postings.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at about 25% of the other skills measured, the major one being hospitality. It was only fair at retail skills, which are found in 65% of retail job postings.
"Essentially, GenAI says it can help with retail strategy, but cannot perform the person-person skills necessary for retail success," the Indeed report said.
Some cashier jobs have already been automated through the introduction of self-checkout machines.
Medical assistant
Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the total skills associated with being a medical assistant, including business operation, technology, language, and communication.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 40% of the skills, the major one being healthcare and caregiving. This was the most common skill sought in medical-assistant job postings — mentioned in about 36% of them.
"The overall finding of this research was that ChatGPT and Gen AI tools can do a lot of different things fairly well, but they're not necessarily great at everything," Indeed's Stahle said. "And especially when it comes down to human skills, that's something that ChatGPT and Gen AI tools are not as good at."
AI tools could threaten some administrative jobs in the healthcare field in the future. Doctors are already using AI to help them document conversations with patients and simplify their paperwork.
Retail sales associate, sales representative, and sales associate
Skills most at risk: Among the 10 popular jobs the report said were most exposed to AI, three were variations of sales roles: retail sales associates, sales representatives, and sales associates. Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the skills associated with each of these jobs, including business operation, technology, language, and communication.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 15% to 20% of the job skills for these roles, and only fair at the important sales and retail skills.
Rather than ChatGPT, the true threat to sales jobs could be the rise of online shopping. As consumers get more comfortable buying everything from groceries to cars online, some sales representative jobs could be threatened.
Shift leader
Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the skills associated with being a shift leader, including business operation, finance, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 15% of shift-leader job postings.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 25% of the job skills, the major one being food and beverage skills. It's only fair at leadership.
In jobs that value leadership abilities, humans could continue to retain an edge over AI.
"High-demand roles that see less exposure to GenAI than the average job on Indeed tend to require specific skills such as 'vehicle operation,' 'healthcare and caregiving,' 'food and beverage,' and 'leadership,'" said Indeed's Stahle. "GenAI's performance in these skills is rated as only 'poor' or 'fair.'"
Technician
Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the skills associated with being a technician, including technology, business operation, communication, and language. The most common skill sought in technician job postings was technology, mentioned in about 21% of job postings.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 33% of the job skills, the major one being health and caregiving.
There are a variety of technician jobs, but per Indeed, those roles typically involve inspecting and troubleshooting equipment, tasks AI may be able to help with in the years ahead. But AI won't impact every type of technician role in the same way, and per Indeed's analysis, it clearly has limitations.
Customer-service representative
Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly 60% of the skills associated with being a customer-service representative, including business operation, technology, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 29% of customer-service-representative job postings.
Many customer-service jobs can be done remotely, and the researchers found that ChatGPT tended to score well for positions that are often associated with remote work.
"The higher the likelihood that a job can be done remotely, the greater its potential exposure is to GenAI-driven change," the report said.
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 25% of the job skills, the major one being hospitality, and was only fair at the retail skill.
Even if more companies roll out customer-service chatbots, they will likely still need human representatives to handle more complicated issues.
Administrative assistant
Skills most at risk: Among the common jobs analyzed, administrative assistant was the most exposed role to generative AI. Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly 90% of the skills associated with being an administrative assistant, including business operation, technology, communication, finance, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 34% of administrative-assistant job postings.
"Among administrative assistant roles with the highest exposure to GenAI in the high-demand category, we observe a dominance of 'business operations' and 'technology' skills, where GenAI performs well with a rating of 'good,'" Stahle said. "Additionally, these roles require 'communication skills,' 'finance skills,' and 'language skills,' in which GenAI excels, performing at an 'excellent' level."
The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 5% of the job skills. Regardless of how many skills generative AI like ChatGPT develop, many people will continue to place their trust in humans — and perhaps for good reason.
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