Back when our parents were worried about getting into the best universities to follow their dream careers and have stable jobs, they could expect those jobs to last for a long time. Now, we teenagers face a different situation. We have to carefully choose our paths, because many future professions might change or disappear due to technology and AI.
As kids, we all dreamed with excitement about doing what we love some day. But when this “some day” may finally arrive, we might realize that the profession we have chosen is at serious risk of being taken over by the technological world. The job market is changing faster than ever, and many students struggle to choose a path, because it feels like every career now comes with its own risks and uncertainties.
Since 2024, AI has begun creating stories, writing code, and performing complex tasks that once required skilled professionals. Big companies like Meta and Microsoft have reported that AI now plays a major role in their work—Microsoft’s CEO even stated that AI writes about 30% of their code. Another company, Anthropic, revealed that their new AI systems can work nonstop and sometimes even outperform humans.
Jobs at high risk of being replaced include historians, translators, political scientists, journalists, customer service representatives and mathematicians. And advancing technology may affect the workers in manufacturing, because warehousing, transportation, delivery, retail, and hospitality may one day be done by AI.
But there are a number of careers that AI cannot replace, at least not anytime soon, because they require the human touch, creativity, and critical thinking. These positions include healthcare providers, creative professionals, lawyers, educators, social workers and mental health specialists.
According to The Future of Jobs Reports, AI could replace around 85 million jobs, but it may also create 97 million new roles that combine human and machine collaboration, such as AI development, data management and human-AI interaction design. This fact is making teens realize that they need to learn both technology and people skills to succeed.
For example, students might study computer science to build AI tools, but they will also take courses in psychology to understand how people interact with technology. Many are now choosing majors that combine these skills so they can adapt to future jobs, like AI ethics specialist, data analyst, or human-AI collaboration manager. College is becoming a place to build flexible skills for a changing world, rather than just preparing young people for one specific career.
As AI continues to be more involved in our daily routines, students today face challenges that no generation has experienced before. While technology can improve our lives and create new opportunities, we should not forget the human qualities that only we can bring—creativity, empathy, and critical thinking. New technologies are tools that can help us create innovations and support our future careers, but they should not replace actual human beings.
