A new study has identified 44 professions at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI), with some jobs facing an alarming 81 percent defeat rate against the technology. The tech giant behind the world’s most popular chatbot has issued a chilling warning that AI poses a serious threat to workers’ jobs.
**AI Threatens Jobs Across Multiple Industries**
Bosses at the ChatGPT creator have published a devastating new study pinpointing 44 professions vulnerable to AI replacement. Researchers utilized a specialized assessment called GDPval to pit cutting-edge AI technology against human workers across America’s nine most profitable industries, according to the Daily Mail.
This disclosure comes amid reports that the US Military is developing AI pilot drones capable of launching devastating strikes on Beijing and Moscow, as noted by the Daily Star.
**Retail and Sales Roles Hit Hardest**
The findings spell disaster for those employed in retail and sales roles. Retail workers appear to face the most daunting future, with certain chatbots outperforming shop staff 56 percent of the time on average. Employees in the wholesale trade sector aren’t faring much better, recording a 53 percent AI victory rate. Meanwhile, government roles, including compliance officers and social workers, experienced 52 percent defeats.
Sales managers were identified as the second most at-risk group, with AI systems outperforming them in a shocking 79 percent of cases. Counter and rental clerks were devastated by AI in 81 percent of direct competitions, making them the most vulnerable profession in the study. Shipping and receiving clerks were beaten by AI 76 percent of the time, while editors saw their robotic competitors triumph in 75 percent of contests.
**AI vs. Human Specialists**
In the study, human specialists were enlisted to establish whether AI or genuine professionals delivered superior results on workplace duties. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1 system emerged as the leading performer, defeating human rivals in a staggering 47.6 percent of competitions on average, with certain professions suffering even more catastrophic defeats.
For example, registered nurses were tested by analyzing photographs of skin conditions and preparing consultation documents. Manufacturing engineers were tasked with creating digital 3D designs of cable reels. The assessors were kept blind to whether humans or AI completed each task, selecting only the most impressive results. Scientists then analyzed the data to determine a “win rate,” indicating how chatbots compare to real-world professionals.
**AI Is Not the Whole Story**
Tech leaders acknowledge that these tests don’t paint the full picture. The company behind the study admitted that the experiment does not encompass all aspects of a job, recognizing that “most jobs are more than just a collection of tasks that can be written down.” Despite this, the Silicon Valley giant maintains that the findings accurately forecast the significant impact AI will have on professionals across various sectors.
Interestingly, the information sector, which includes film directors, producers, and journalists, managed to hold its own against AI. Even the best-performing AI systems only won 39 percent of the time within these fields, though some roles performed significantly below average.
Even intuitively driven roles are not immune. Private detectives and investigators only won 30 percent of their face-offs against AI, highlighting how human intuition offers no guaranteed protection.
**Varied Performance Across AI Systems**
Different chatbot systems showed vastly different performances, with some models excelling in specific tasks. Claude’s Opus 4.1, while having issues with precision, managed to secure victories by producing visually appealing graphics. The company’s top-tier GPT5-high system achieved an average win rate of 48.8 percent across all professions and led in accuracy.
In stark contrast, ChatGPT’s GPT-4o system, launched just 15 months prior, could only manage victories in a paltry 12.4 percent of tests. This dramatic leap underscores the breakneck speed at which AI is matching human capabilities and the profound effect it might have on global workforces.
**Leadership Voices Concerns**
Company chief Sam Altman has admitted that concerns about job displacement due to AI technology cause him sleepless nights. During his recent appearance on *The Tucker Carlson Show*, Mr. Altman stated: “I’m confident that a lot of current customer support that happens over a phone or computer, those people will lose their jobs, and that’ll be better done by an AI.”
Mr. Altman even suggested that up to 40 percent of all roles could face automation through AI in the future.
**Executives Aim to Soften the Blow**
Nevertheless, the tech mogul stopped short of declaring that humans would be immediately displaced by AI. Instead, the company has attempted to reframe these findings as evidence of how AI could “support people in the work they do every day,” rather than replace them outright.
As AI continues to evolve rapidly, workers and industries worldwide face a critical moment of adaptation — one that will redefine the future of employment as we know it.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/ai-threat-44-jobs-risk-36024134
