The impact of AI on jobs

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:

I am starting to worry about my son who will graduate from college in 6 years.

I tell youngsters to consider plumbing school as backup plan. I am thinking it will be much harder for AI to replace plumbers.

[Axtremus]

@Horace said in The impact of AI on jobs:

My hope is that with better AI will come more opportunities for humans to operate that AI, bringing something human to the table that AIs still can't replicate. Maybe I should discount that hope. ...

Unless that "something human" can increase profit, yeah ... discount that hope.

[jon-nyc]

@Axtremus said in The impact of AI on jobs:

@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:

I am starting to worry about my son who will graduate from college in 6 years.

I tell youngsters to consider plumbing school as backup plan. I am thinking it will be much harder for AI to replace plumbers.

Are you telling your own kids that?

My son could survive off his inheritances I suppose. Especially given what AGI will do to the stock market.

[Horace]

I bet Ax does not choose that question to break his decades long seal against talking about personal stuff.

[Mik]

I think my daughter will be fine. AI can develop project plans, but it can't be a butt kicker, which every successful project manager is.

[89th]

Sorry to break it to you Mik:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ever-wish-there-was-a-machine-for-kicking-people-in-the-ass-well/

[Doctor Phibes]

If all the butts belong to robots, what better kicker than a machine?

[jon-nyc]

Best comment: Akshually its tensor maths of which vectors are just a special case

[Horace]

I wrote a description of something I was doing yesterday, to some coworkers. I pasted a paragraph of it into chatgpt, to see what sense it could make of it.

It understood it perfectly, gave perfectly reasonable advice. This is not advanced stuff, but the level of this conversation, based on my experience, will lose most people allegedly "skilled in the art", but now anybody can get accurate and clear headed explanations of technical stuff, in presumably most realms of human knowledge.

[Mik]

That's how I use it and it excels 90% of the time. It distills the subject down to what you really need to know.

[Axtremus]

See, plumbing school FTW!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-cant-install-an-hvac-system-why-gen-z-is-flocking-to-jobs-in-the-trades-171735856.html

[AndyD]

Back in 1980 when I read Sociology, we studied some Keynes, Schumacher. Reduced working hours, and 3 day working weeks appeared to be in my future.
Oh yeah, and flying cars for all were predicted.

It'll happen, eventually.

[taiwan_girl]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2025/08/07/microsoft-reveals-the-most-and-least-ai-safe-jobs-where-do-you-rank/

Most Vulnerable
Interpreters and Translators
Historians
Passenger Attendants
Sales Representatives of Services
Writers and Authors
Customer Service Representatives
CNC Tool Programmers
Telephone Operators
Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs

Least Vulnerable
Phlebotomists
Nursing Assistants
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
Helpers—Painters, Plasterers, etc.
Embalmers
Plant and System Operators, All Other
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers
Ship Engineers
Tire Repairers and Changers

[Axtremus]

Plumbing school Escalator and elevator tech training FTW!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/11/09/high-paying-jobs-no-college-degree/87128956007/

"Blue collar is in. 10 high-paying jobs that don't require a degree."

[LuFins Dad]

That’s as startling of news as saying it gets darker earlier in November… Stunning! We had no idea! It’s only been brought up 2345 times on this forum.

[jon-nyc]

Yeah but I have a fully funded 529 so I might as well send him to college.

[Mik]

It doesn’t mean higher education is obsolete. It just means one should have a practical focus to their chosen course of study.

[LuFins Dad]

@Mik said in The impact of AI on jobs:

It doesn’t mean higher education is obsolete. It just means one should have a practical focus to their chosen course of study.

What Mik said. Luke picked anesthesia because there’s still going to need to be a hands on element to it, even if it’s just monitoring the tech, and being the human comgorting figure for the patient..:

[Mik]

Learn to code using AI...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/google-brain-founder-andrew-ng-says-everyone-should-still-learn-to-code-but-not-the-old-way/ar-AA1QbYnq

[Doctor Phibes]

@Mik said in The impact of AI on jobs:

Learn to code using AI...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/google-brain-founder-andrew-ng-says-everyone-should-still-learn-to-code-but-not-the-old-way/ar-AA1QbYnq

The people giving out this kind advice always seem to assume that everybody can do this stuff, as well as having the technology access and motivation.