Do you know that Google Assistants can make real human-like calls to book services, make appointments, and everything else that an assistant does? If you know, you will realize the potential artificial intelligence brings to the table.  

 This example looks promising and gives us a glimpse of the future, but it is also worrisome at the same time. While AI professionals are basking in the glory of new-found demand, others are not so fortunate. Artificial intelligence is seemingly taking over jobs. Starting from an assistant to lucrative finance roles, all jobs are on the verge of getting automated. of Both blue-collar jobs and white-collar jobs are at stake. A few AI 

 AI and automation increase productivity, but they will replace human workers from their jobs. These target routine jobs that require high school education. Unfortunately, the U.S. Federal Reserve classifies nearly 62 million jobs as routine jobs that are potentially automatable.  

 McKinsey predicted that one-third of U.S. workers could be automated away by 2030 and that between 400 million and 800 million people globally could lose jobs to automation. 

 Automation in action  

 Automation is picking up pace. Signs of it can be seen in several business operations. AI professionals are riding high with newfound demand in the tech industry. The adoption of automation has improved productivity, but job cuts are making the situation grim. Let’s see the areas in which automation is making the most impact.  

1. Manufacturing and warehouses  

 Millions of workers rely on factory and warehouse jobs. Companies like Amazon have replaced their warehouses with robots that move boxes throughout the warehouse without much human intervention. Similarly, China’s Alibaba has fully robotized warehouses. So it’s not a surprise that Americans are losing their factory jobs. According to AP fact-checkers, between 2000 and 2010, 88% of jobs were lost due to automation.   

2. Call Centers & Customers Service 

 Call centers are a perfect example of jobs that are performed routinely and don’t require much cognitive ability. These jobs are easily automatable. Several global consumer business companies have integrated chatbots and conversational AI in their customer service to serve their customers. 

Chatbots answer routine questions and reduce call times, which is an effective measure for improving customer service. Chatbots get better over time as they learn the nuances of human conversation. According to Statista, 66% of global call centers are located in the Americas. Considering that 56% of call centers plan to invest in AI in the next two years and 33% of companies plan to invest in robotic process automation, this is a wakeup call for call center workers.  

 
Amazon Lex, Rocketbots, and Kasisto are a few examples of companies that offer chatbots for call centers to set up their customer service.  

3. Finance 

 Jobs as sophisticated as financial analysts, tax planners, traders, etc. are on the verge of getting automated. The reason for this is – they are logic and process-driven. The role of a financial professional involves: Consider this: 

1. Recognizing patterns in data and derive insight 
2. Create models and decision rules 
3. Forecast any future events  

Machine learning is already doing a good job in finance to do these tasks. Coupled with natural language processing, the efficiency to do these tasks is even greater. According to a Bloomberg report, Wall street reached “peak human” in 2016 and allowing firms to shed jobs.  

Irrespective of the job title of a financial professional – vice president, senior vice president, managing director, others, if part of the job requires routine & logical processes, it can be easily automated.  

 AI startups like Apoidea helps banks, insurance, and finance companies extract information from company reports. The tools further allow companies to summarize the extracted information and perform sentimental analysis by monitoring social and traditional media. Global banks and insurance companies employ several employees to perform this work. AI tools will render these companies to require fewer employees soon.