"Jobs Taken by AI / Jobs That Remain"—Where is the Boundary Between "Words" and "Hands": The Reality Depicted by Microsoft Research and Sky News

"40 Jobs Most Susceptible to Being 'Taken Over' by AI and 40 Jobs 'Untouchable' by AI—The Divergence Between 'Word Jobs' and 'Hand Jobs'"

The list compiled by the UK's Sky News of the "40 Jobs Most Susceptible to AI/40 Jobs Least Affected by AI" is not just for creating buzz; it is a rather concrete map. The foundation is the latest research from Microsoft Research. By linking 200,000 real conversations from Bing/Copilot to job tasks, they calculated "AI applicability" for each profession, and Sky News added depth through interviews with stakeholders and researchers. This approach is new in that it measures "how well AI can perform certain activities" based on real data and projects it onto professions, rather than relying on "vibes."Sky News

The essence of the research is this: by evaluating the activities people ask AI to perform (such as information gathering, writing, advising) and their success and applicability, they overlay these onto the task composition of each profession to score "how practical AI is for which activities in which professions." As a result, jobs centered around words, which heavily involve providing information, writing, teaching, and advising, score higher, while jobs involving physical tasks or face-to-face care score lower. This is the divergence point between "word jobs" and "hand jobs."Microsoft

On the side with significant impact ("40 Most Susceptible")

At the top are interpreters and translators (98%), historians (91%), mathematicians (91%), proofreaders (91%), professions involved in automatic code generation (90%), writers and authors (85%), statistical assistants (85%), sales (84%), technical writers (83%), and journalists (81%), all of which are professions leaning towards language and knowledge processing. In other words, the higher the proportion of activities involving organizing input context and producing large amounts of text, explanations, or proposals, the stronger the "overlap" with AI.arXiv

On the side with limited impact ("40 Least Affected")

Conversely, roles that AI "currently" can hardly touch are clear. Skilled trades like painters (4%), cleaners (3%), roofers (2%), care/medical assistants like nursing aides (7%) and surgical assistants (3%), and marine engineers (5%), which require strong on-site judgment and physicality, are listed. In other words, AI is strong in jobs that "fall into words," but weak in tasks involving on-site arrangements, safety, and tactile work.Sky News

Voices from the Field: Are Jobs Already Being Reduced?

Sky News introduces the testimony of freelance writer Joe Turner, who lost 70% of his clients and suffered a significant income loss within two years of the spread of generative AI. He shares his experience that clients switched because AI can quickly produce long drafts that "seem plausible." Veteran audio producer Christian Allen also experienced a loss of orders for internal training narrations and radio ads. There's also a price disruption where AI voice ads can be purchased for just £11.99.Sky News

Corporate Movements: Are Layoffs "Because of AI"?

Klarna reduced its workforce by about 40% in connection with AI investment and hiring restraint, boasting that its chatbot handles "the work of 700 people." Microsoft announced 15,000 layoffs while expanding data center investments, and Amazon's CEO Jassy also mentioned personnel optimization with AI utilization. However, an anonymous AI consultant calmly states, "It's more about hiring freezes than immediate AI-driven layoffs." According to PwC indicators, job postings for roles "threatened" by AI grew four times slower than those for roles "less threatened" from 2019 to 2024. Additionally, a Deloitte survey shows that 78% of companies are increasing AI spending, and a WEF survey indicates that about 40% of companies anticipate workforce reductions in areas that can be automated.Sky News

Lessons from History: Does Technological Innovation Only "Erase" Jobs?

Fabian Stephany, a labor economist at Oxford University, puts the brakes on pessimism. He notes that in previous cases like the spinning jenny (1769), Ford's assembly line (1913), and ATMs (1967), while specific tasks were automated, there were also phases where overall demand and new roles increased, leading to more employment. Microsoft also explains, "AI supports many tasks such as research, writing, and communication, but it does not indicate that it can complete entire professions on its own."Sky News

Picking Up Reactions from Social Media: High Enthusiasm but Divided Reception

This feature was widely shared on X. The official Sky News post received many reactions, and discussions with researchers were guided in the journalist's own thread. In quoted reposts, there were accepting voices like "AI is coming, let's prepare," as well as criticisms like "The media is just stoking fear" and "Talking about jobs from 'conversation logs' is a leap." On Reddit, there was a more measured interpretation with comments like "It's understandable that physical work and on-site skills remain" and "It's too simplistic to equate 'replacement = dismissal.'"X

Key Points from Representative Posts
・"AI is already consuming the downstream processes of intellectual labor. The problem is the thinning of the foundation" (Tech Board)Reddit
・"'Historians are in danger' is an exaggeration. On-site surveys and archive work cannot be replaced by language generation alone" (Comment on Data Visualization Board)Reddit
・"Are you discussing the entire labor market with 200,000 conversations?" questioning the validity of the sample (Developer Community)Reddit

Overall, the interpretation that **"AI is strong in mass-producing words, explanations, and inquiry responses. Therefore, pressure is on 'entry-level' jobs. Meanwhile, jobs involving human interaction and physical presence remain solid"** is being shared across many communities.

How to Prepare? A Practical Checklist

1. Break Down Your Job into "Activities"
   Inventory tasks like project definition, research, drafting, summarizing, proofreading, negotiation, on-site work, and mark the processes that AI can handle with high precision (information gathering, writing, template responses).Microsoft

2. "Proactively Incorporate AI"
   Let AI handle the initial drafting, summarizing, and research, while humans focus on requirement definition, editing, verification, and final responsibility. Reallocate disposable time to planning and understanding clients. The key point of Microsoft research is "application" rather than "replacement."Microsoft

3. Strengthen "Human-Centric Processes"
   Building face-to-face relationships, ethical judgment, contextual interpretation, on-site safety, non-verbal cues—these are areas of comparative advantage for the time being. Align systems and evaluation metrics here.Sky News

4. Prepare for a "Hiring Freeze Scenario" as an Organization
   Rather than sudden mass layoffs, natural attrition or freezes can easily thin the nurturing base for young talent. Redesign OJT for the AI era.Sky News

5. Consider Skill Migration
   Those in "word jobs" like writing, mathematics, and sales can easily transition to prompt design, verification, auditing, and data practices. Conversely, skilled trades have room to increase unit prices with on-site × digital integration.Microsoft
   
   

Points to Consider When Interpreting

• "Applicability" is the starting point of a threat calendar and does not mean immediate restructuring. The on-the-ground feeling from Sky News interviews is that "tightening hiring/freezing the downstream" is more likely to appear first.Sky News

• Don't Forget Historical Counterexamples. As with the increase in bank tellers after the advent of ATMs, jobs can remain in a different form.Sky News

• **However, freelancers are highly sensitive.** They are easily hit by price competition and substitutability, and the vividness of the testimonies stems from this.Sky News

Conclusion:AI is a device that homogenizes the downstream of "word jobs" in a short time. Therefore, the value of"determining requirements, verifying, and mobilizing people" upstream skills andon-site skills using the body will relatively increase.