Human Resource Management International Digest

Will artificial intelligence usurp white collar jobs?

John Chelliah,
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John Chelliah, (2017) "Will artificial intelligence usurp white collar jobs?", Human Resource Management International
Digest, Vol. 25 Issue: 3, pp.1-3, https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-11-2016-0152
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(2003),"Artificial intelligence is almost here", On the Horizon, Vol. 11 Iss 2 pp. 37-38 <a href="https://
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(2018),"Game changing value from Artificial Intelligence: eight strategies", Strategy &amp; Leadership, Vol. 46 Iss 1 pp.
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 Will artificial intelligence usurp white
collar jobs?
John Chelliah

esearch predicts that as many as one-third of roles could be taken over by John Chelliah is Professor

R technology, how does this change the shape of the workforce, and HR’s role in
managing it (Personnel Today, 2015)? Eminent English economist David Ricardo
in Management at Fiji
National University,
Suva, Fiji.
first raised the machinery question in 1821, that is, the “opinion entertained by the labouring
class, that the employment of machinery is frequently detrimental to their interests” (The
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Wall Street Journal, 2016). Thomas Carlyle, writing in 1839, railed against the “demon of
mechanism” whose disruptive power was guilty of “oversetting whole multitudes of
workmen” (The Economist, 2016). The fear of machines taking over jobs thereby making
humans redundant is not new. From the time of the Industrial Revolution machines have
been replacing blue-collar jobs. However, in view of recent advances in artificial
intelligence (AI), has the time arrived for the demise of white collar jobs and how does this
change the shape of the workforce, and HR’s role in managing it? To answer this question,
this paper looks at some recent studies and expert opinions.
Lee Beardmore, chief technology officer of Capgemini’s business process outsourcing
division believes AI will have a dramatic impact on the workforce, resulting in staff having
to be trained and up-skilled to work in higher value areas. He believes that in the same way
computer automation has done away with lots of blue collar jobs over recent decades, AI
and robotic process automation will have a similar impact on white-collar roles in areas
ranging from HR to Finance (Personnel Today, 2015).
About 47 per cent of current jobs in the USA are at high risk of computerization over the
next 20 years, according to a study by researchers at Oxford University and Deloitte (Frey
and Osborne, 2013). Here are some insights provided by this study:
 Oncologists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center are using IBM’s Watson
computer to provide chronic care and cancer treatment diagnostics. Health care
employees involved in diagnostic tasks are at risk of becoming redundant.
 Law firms now rely on computers that can scan thousands of legal briefs and
precedents to assist in pre-trial research. Sophisticated algorithms are gradually taking
on a number of tasks performed by paralegals, contract and patent lawyers.
 With the availability of big data, a wide range of non-routine cognitive tasks are
becoming computerizable. The improvement of sensing technology has made sensor
data one of the most prominent sources of big data. In the near future, it will be possible
to place inexpensive sensors on light poles, sidewalks and other public property to
capture sound and images, likely reducing the number of workers in law enforcement.
 Computerized speech recognition such as Apple’s Siri and Google Now rely on natural
user interfaces to recognize spoken words, interpret their meanings and act on them
accordingly. SmartAction is a company that provides advanced speech recognition

DOI 10.1108/HRMID-11-2016-0152 VOL. 25 NO. 3 2017, pp. 1-3, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 0967-0734 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 1
 using machine learning that improves conventional interactive voice response systems,
realizing cost savings of 60 to 80 per cent over an outsourced call centre attended to
by human labor.
 Education is another labor-intensive sector that could soon be served by AI. The rise of
massive open online courses has begun to generate large data sets detailing how
students interact on forums, their diligence in completing assignments and viewing
lectures, and their ultimate grades. Such information, together with improved user
interfaces, will allow for machine learning algorithms that serve as interactive tutors, with
teaching and assessment strategies statistically calibrated to match individual student
needs.
 These technologies can easily be adapted to assist human resource (HR) departments
in recruitment, most likely resulting in the streamlining of HR departments.
Interestingly, this research concludes that of 702 occupations that it assessed, the
following white-collar jobs as most likely to be replaced by AI based on breakthroughs in
machine learning and mobile robotics:
Surveyors, judicial law clerks, cost estimators, market research analysts and marketing
specialists, civil engineering technicians, electrical and electronics drafters, medical
transcriptionists, technical writers, human resource assistants, tax examiners, collectors,
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and revenue agents, accountants and auditors, paralegals and legal assistants, gaming
dealers, cashiers, file clerks, credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks, claims adjusters,
examiners, and investigators, credit analysts, loan officers, data entry keyers, and
insurance underwriters.

Implications for human resource practitioners

Clearly, a trend is emerging where AI is increasingly competing with humans in a wide
range of cognitive tasks. According to The Economist (2014), since the 1950s, huge
investments in capital equipment has caused the sharp decline of American share of
employment in manufacturing from 30 per cent to less than 10 per cent. However, during
the same period, jobs in services soared, from less than 50 per cent of employment to
almost 70 per cent. It is therefore inevitable that firms would start to apply the same
experimentation and reorganization to service industries. HR practitioners need to
anticipate the impact of AI on their workplaces. HR departments may themselves be
undergoing change as AI takes over some of the functions performed by people previously
such as HR systems reporting or assistance with recruitment and selection. AI could also
help to serve the line manager as their “first port of call” HR advisor and provide them with
Keywords: real time HR information that would make these line managers more effective. HR
Artificial intelligence, practitioners need to be up with the play with AI developments to be able to advise
Machine learning, management of the possible changes to workforce in terms of nature of work, predict both
Human resource, the likely roles that employees will play and the optimal mix between human and machines
Robotic process automation, in at the workplace. In essence, they must attempt to predict the jobs of the future as AI
White collar workers stealthily usurps white-collar jobs.

References
Frey, C.B. and Osborne, M.A. (2013), “The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to
computerisation?”, available at: www.oxfordmartin. ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_
Employment.pdf (accessed 12 November 2016).

Personnel Today (2015), “Artificial intelligence: HR’s role in the Robot takeover”, available at: www.
personneltoday.com/hr/artificial-intelligence-hrs-role-robot-takeover/ (accessed 18 November 2016).

The Economist (2014), “The future of jobs: the onrushing wave”, available at: www.economist.com/
news/briefing/21594264-previous-technological-innovation-has-always-delivered-more-long-run-
employment-not-less (accessed 10 November 2016).

PAGE 2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST VOL. 25 NO. 3 2017

 The Economist (2016), “The return of the machinery question”, available at: www.economist.com/news/
special-report/21700761-after-many-false-starts-artificial-intelligence-has-taken-will-it-cause-mass
(accessed 15 October 2016).

The Wall Street Journal (2016), “Artificial intelligence’s long-term impact on jobs: some lessons from
history”, available at: http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2016/07/29/ais-long-term-impact-on-jobs-some-
lessons-from-history/ (accessed 18 November 2016).

Corresponding author
John Chelliah can be contacted at: john.chelliah@uts.edu.au
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