Bricklayers, nurses and electricians: The jobs still out of AI’s reach
Translated from French and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Jobs involving manual work in unstructured physical settings and direct interpersonal contact currently appear less exposed to generative AI.
- Swiss labor-market researcher Michael Siegenthaler lists hairdressers, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, nurses, security guards and firefighters among the less vulnerable professions.
- The article raises the question of whether lower exposure to AI will also affect wages.
Some jobs may still hold their ground as artificial intelligence advances. At least for now, professions built around physical work and direct human contact appear less vulnerable to replacement than many others.
Michael Siegenthaler, a professor at the KOF economic research center at ETH Zurich who studies Switzerland’s labor market, says the least exposed jobs share two features: manual work in unstructured physical environments and direct interpersonal contact.
His examples include hairdressers, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, nurses, security guards and firefighters. These occupations require people to operate in changing physical surroundings or interact directly with others, areas where current AI systems appear to face greater limits.
The question comes after earlier waves of automation hit manual work particularly hard. This time, however, such professions seem to be faring better against generative AI. Whether that protection will translate into stronger wages remains an open issue.
The least exposed to AI are those in which manual work predominates in unstructured physical environments and direct interpersonal contact.
About this summary
Originally published by Le Temps in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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