Something fascinating is happening in the United States right now. Job applications are starting to include questions like "Please prove that your job cannot be replaced by AI." This isn't just curiosity—it's a symbolic event that shows the real impact AI is having on our daily lives and the world of work.
The Surprising Reality of AI Development Speed
AI is advancing much faster than we imagine. According to Google's announcements, their Gemini AI reached the same usage levels that Google's search engine took years to achieve—but it did so in just one-tenth of the time. This means AI technology is spreading about 10 times faster than the internet did.
What's even more noteworthy is that AI isn't just staying in virtual spaces on our screens. A new form called Physical AI is emerging, where AI is embedded in robots to perform actual tasks in physical spaces. This shows that AI is a general-purpose technology capable of transforming not just parts of our lives, but our entire way of living.
Jobs That Will Be Replaced First
So which jobs will be replaced by AI first? The answer is surprisingly simple:all jobs that involve repetitive routine tasks. What's important here is that this includes not just simple repetitive work, but also complex yet patterned tasks.
Take doctors, for example. When a patient describes symptoms, a doctor narrows down hundreds of possible conditions to a few candidates, gathers evidence through additional tests, and makes a final diagnosis. This process seems complex, but it's actually based on established patterns of "these symptoms indicate these conditions." AI can process these patterned tasks more accurately and quickly than humans.
The same applies to lawyers. The law firm Baker & Hostetler in the US is already using an AI lawyer called "ROSS." ROSS handles tasks that junior lawyers used to do—phone consultations, legal advice, and more. One AI can simultaneously consult with thousands of clients, making it overwhelmingly cost-effective.
Developers and Creators Aren't Exempt Either
Change has already begun in the development field. AI is starting to replace standardized development tasks, which led Microsoft to recently lay off 6,000 employees—40% of whom were developers.
The same goes for creative fields like music and visual arts. Popular music has somewhat standardized patterns by genre that AI can adequately replicate. While innovative and truly creative works remain in the human domain, a significant portion of commercial creative content can be replaced by AI.
Changes in Transportation and Autonomous Taxis
China is already operating autonomous taxis in 11 cities and plans to expand to 50 cities this year. This isn't just a technology demonstration—it's a strategy to dominate the global autonomous taxi market. There's growing demand from countries like those in the Middle East that have relied on foreign workers for taxi services to replace them with autonomous vehicles.
The US is also launching autonomous taxi services in earnest, centered around Tesla, so major changes are expected for transportation industry workers.
Even Professional Jobs Aren't Safe
Many people think professional jobs like doctors, lawyers, and accountants will be safe, but the reality is different. These professions are ultimately repetitive work with many variables. AI makes fewer mistakes and omissions than humans and can work 24/7 without getting tired.
OpenAI announced they aim to reach AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) by 2035. At this stage, AI will be able to perform at human levels in virtually all fields. When that happens, the value of professional knowledge workers could approach zero.
So What Jobs Will Survive?
Some jobs won't completely disappear. First,computer science and AI-related technical fieldswill continue to need people for development.Environmental and climate change-related fieldswill also become increasingly important in the future.
Interestingly,humanities fieldsare gaining new attention. Law, ethics, psychology, philosophy—these areas explore human nature and can provide answers about how AI and humans can coexist. KAIST's establishment of a "Digital Humanities and Social Sciences Department" is in this context.
Arts fieldsalso seem unlikely to be completely replaced. While AI can replicate artistic works, truly expressing human emotions, feelings, and the full spectrum of human experience remains uniquely human territory.
A New Capability: Play Capacity
Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defined humans as "Homo Ludens"—"playing humans." Now that machines can think and create tools, humanity's unique nature might be our ability to enjoy play and seek fun.
I call this "play capacity"—the ability to deeply engage in play, enjoy it, interact with others through play, and maintain a balance between competition and cooperation. This could become the uniquely human capability that differentiates us from AI.
Aging Society and AI's Role
In an aging society, AI presents new opportunities. As the number of people over 80 rapidly increases, it's becoming difficult to meet caregiving demands. AI companion animals and caregiving robots could help provide emotional stability and reduce social isolation.
Of course, prices need to become accessible to the general public, and technical sophistication needs to improve, but looking at China's development of cost-effective robot technology, this doesn't seem too far off.
Personal Strategies for the AI Era
AI utilization strategies should vary by age group. People in their 70s-80s should use AI for care and emotional support, those in their 50s-60s for health management and social network building, 40s-50s for reskilling for job stability, and 20s-30s for self-development and capability enhancement.
What's particularly concerning is the younger generation. Children growing up with ChatGPT might become overly dependent on AI and lose their ability to converse with people. This could have devastating effects on personality development, so caution is needed.
AI's Side Effects and Responses
AI can also be used for criminal purposes. Fraud using deepfakes and voice cloning is already increasing. While technical security is important, what's more crucial is improving awareness of AI crimes, prevention education, and legal and institutional frameworks.
The problem is that laws and institutions can't keep up with the pace of technological development. Balancing regulation and innovation is an important challenge for governments.
Korea's AI Strategy
Korea is considered one of the top three countries in AI, following the US and China. However, given our limitations in population and data scale, a strategy combining AI with our strength in manufacturing is more realistic than independent AI development.
The government announced it would invest 100 trillion won in AI over the next five years. This is a substantial investment considering our economic scale. But what's more important is cultivating AI talent. Due to rapidly declining birth rates and avoidance of engineering fields, we're facing a shortage of AI professionals.
Energy Issues and Nuclear Power
AI and data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity. The International Energy Agency predicts that data center power demand will more than double by 2030. Renewable energy alone can't meet this demand, making nuclear power a realistic alternative.
China's Rise and Technological Dependence
There are assessments that China has surpassed Korea not just in AI but in science and technology overall. China has 8.8 million R&D personnel while Korea has only 500,000. While China's top students flock to science and technology fields, Korea suffers from excessive concentration in medical and pharmaceutical schools.
China's success factors include: ① excellent talent entering science and technology fields ② long-term, consistent policies ③ political leadership that understands science and technology ④ research environments with fewer regulations.
Wealth Concentration and Social Response
In the AI era, the top 0.01% might monopolize 99% of all wealth. Elon Musk's mention of "super basic income" is in this context. There are discussions about taxing AI-utilizing companies to fund basic income.
Henry Kissinger predicted that global big tech companies would come to influence international order. Concerns about individual countries being led around by big tech companies are becoming reality.
Conclusion: Time for Choice
The changes we'll experience over the next five years will be greater than the changes of the past 50 years. The following five years might equal the changes of the past 500 years. While the scientific revolution since Newton took hundreds of years, the AI revolution will bring that level of change in just about 10 years.
What's important is that whether AI will be optimistic or pessimistic depends on our choices. Will we control AI, or will we be controlled by it? We don't have much time left to make this choice.
Ultimately, people who utilize AI will achieve much better results than those who don't. To avoid falling behind in competition, developing the ability to collaborate with AI is essential. At the same time, we must further develop uniquely human values like creativity, emotion, and ethical judgment.
To wrap up, the AI era is both a crisis and an opportunity. For those who adapt to change and develop new capabilities, greater possibilities will open up. But without preparation, we'll inevitably be left behind. Now is exactly the time to start making choices and preparations for the future.