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Artificial intelligence
Lifestyle

Five jobs likely to be replaced in the future by artificial intelligence

With the growth of AI and China’s heavy investment in the tech, and the pursuit of improved productivity and profits, humans may lose out to machines in a number of roles. We look at five posts likely to be affected

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AI is becoming more of a reality and humans may lose their jobs to robots that don’t eat, sleep or ask for overtime or holidays. Photo: Alamy
John Carney

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) worldwide in the coming decades is a given and China is at the forefront of it all.

China’s State Council laid out an ambitious AI strategic plan in July 2017 to create a domestic 1 trillion yuan (US$147.80 billion) AI industry and make China the world’s leading AI innovation centre by 2030.

It’s early days yet, but the Chinese population’s eagerness to embrace new technologies, along with supportive government policies and budget, mean that AI infrastructure is guaranteed to appear here sooner rather than later.

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Globally organisations of all sizes and industries are pursuing AI-driven automation to help improve productivity and profitability. The question is: if AI develops to a point where machines will take over humans’ jobs, what will those jobs be? Here are five examples of what the future could look like.

A police officer helps a child interact with one of the automated police robots, or robocops that patrol Shenzhen North railway station during the Spring Festival travel rush. Photo: AFP
A police officer helps a child interact with one of the automated police robots, or robocops that patrol Shenzhen North railway station during the Spring Festival travel rush. Photo: AFP
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