01-08-2025
Microsoft Study Reveals AI Threat to Writing, Sales, PR Jobs — Manual Roles Still Safe, For Now
A new study by Microsoft has shed light on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the job landscape, and it's the white-collar professionals who may need to worry most. According to the report, roles involving communication, writing, and research are most susceptible to AI-powered tools like chatbots and generative language models. The findings come from an extensive analysis of over 200,000 anonymized user conversations with Microsoft's Bing Copilot AI.
'Our study explores which job categories can productively use AI chatbots. It introduces an AI applicability score that measures the overlap between AI capabilities and job tasks, highlighting where AI might change how work is done, not take away or replace jobs,' said Microsoft senior researcher Kiran Tomlinson.
The study categorizes 80 professions—40 that are highly exposed to AI capabilities and 40 that are least exposed. High-exposure jobs include interpreters, historians, writers, editors, and customer service agents—roles that require conveying or generating information, which AI is increasingly proficient at handling. Sales representatives, public relations specialists, and even some educators, like postsecondary business teachers, also made the list.
Interestingly, many of these high-risk roles demand advanced degrees. 'In terms of education requirements, we find higher AI applicability for occupations requiring a Bachelor's degree than occupations with lower requirements,' the report states, highlighting how formal education no longer provides a safety net against AI disruption.
Jobs ranking high on the AI applicability scale include:
Interpreters and Translators
Writers and Authors
Customer Service Representatives
Editors
Public Relations Specialists
News Analysts and Journalists0
Data Scientists
Postsecondary Teachers in Business and Economics
On the other hand, jobs involving physical tasks or on-site work continue to show resilience. Roles such as nursing assistants, cement masons, tire repairers, and dredge operators remain largely unaffected, primarily because they require manual labour and equipment handling that current AI technologies cannot replicate.
These lower-risk jobs include:
Nursing Assistants
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
Automotive Glass Installers
Roofers
Massage Therapists
Water Treatment Plant Operators
Logging Equipment Operators
However, researchers caution that this immunity may not last forever. As AI and robotics evolve, even hands-on professions may see gradual automation. Still, for now, those working in physically demanding or highly specialized manual roles can breathe a bit easier.
The study makes one thing clear: AI is not just a tech buzzword anymore—it's becoming a real force in reshaping job functions across industries. While AI may not fully replace any one occupation just yet, it's certainly changing how many of them operate.
