AI vs. your job: These are the 10 jobs that will see a rise in value and the 10 that will go under.

Who would have imagined just five years ago that a conversation with a virtual assistant could jeopardize—or catapult—entire careers? The emergence of generative AI is already on the computers of thousands of workers, but it may be precisely those who don't work with it who are most immune to the labor change it could bring.

Just as steam engines redrew the economic map during the Industrial Revolution, today AI threatens to draw new boundaries between professional relevance and obsolescence . Microsoft Research's latest study, based on hundreds of thousands of real-life interactions with Bing Copilot, is a heat map of the immediate future of employment: it reveals who has the wind of AI in their sails... and who is sailing straight into turbulent waters.

Here we break down the ten professions best positioned to thrive in this new era and the ten that, if nothing changes, could see their demand plummet.

According to the study 's AI Applicability Index, these occupations show the greatest convergence between the activities they perform and those that AI can successfully execute or assist.

1. Interpreters and translators : Almost all of their work (98%) falls into tasks that Copilot performs well: language interpretation, text writing, and cultural information retrieval.
2. Historians : Documentary research and source analysis are fertile ground for AI.
3. Passenger assistants : High communication and customer service load, reinforced by AI in information delivery.
4. Service sales representatives : AI supports customer data management and sales pitches.
5. Writers and Authors : From drafts to revisions, AI becomes a co-author.
6. Customer Service Representatives : Scripts, automated incident resolution, and informational support.
7. CNC Tool Programmers : AI Facilitates Technical Documentation and Troubleshooting
8. Telephone operators : Assistance in managing and forwarding calls.
9. Ticket and travel agents : Support with logistics and destination information.
10. Radio Hosts and Presenters : Script preparation and AI-optimized current affairs reporting.

At the other extreme, the study identifies jobs whose core tasks have little overlap with the current capabilities of generative AI, primarily due to their high physical or manual component.

1. Phlebotomus : Blood extraction and direct physical treatment not replicable by AI.
2. Nursing assistants : Physical care and personal care outside the digital reach.
3. Hazardous Materials Removal Workers : Manual Handling and Specialized Safety Measures.
4. Painters and plasterers' assistants : Manual labor without virtual equivalent.
5. Embalmers : Highly specialized and physical practice.
6. Plant and system operators : On-site control and maintenance of facilities.
7. Maxillofacial surgeons : Surgical medical procedures that cannot be automated with conversational AI.
8. Auto glass installers and repairers : Manual and artisanal work.
9. Naval Engineers : Physical operation and direct supervision of mechanical systems.
10. Tire repairers and changers : Manual execution not replaceable by software.

The pattern is clear: AI is creeping in wherever work is essentially cognitive, repetitive in structure, and dependent on information. Jobs that require physical manipulation , constant presence, or fine manual skills remain, for now, outside its reach. However, this doesn't mean they're immune; robotic automation could, in the medium term, expand the scope of disruption.

Between the extremes, there is a wide spectrum of jobs that combine physical and cognitive components. Professions such as teaching, journalism, and business management benefit from AI in certain areas —writing, analysis, communication—but still rely on human interaction, contextual judgment, and non-routine creativity.

The snapshot this study offers is a snapshot of 2024. The evolution of AI is so rapid that the list could change radically in five years.

The big question is not just which professions will survive, but how they will be transformed . History shows that technologies that seem threatening also generate new jobs. The challenge for workers and companies will be to identify these opportunities before the wave passes over them.