Technology advances and causes changes in job profiles. Some old jobs fade away, say tongawallas who operated horse carriages went into oblivion after motor cars appeared. Some new jobs appear, say radio cab drivers and then Ola and Uber drivers. There is replacement of some jobs — stenographers have gone and are replaced by computers and transcriptionists. Over the past few decades, robots, computers and software have taken over the work being done by human beings. Some work is being done more accurately and at lower cost.

With the advent of machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI, there is replacement of jobs in office settings and on the shop floor in factories. In medical diagnostics, computer systems do the pathological tests faster and quicker. In radiology, X-raying and scanning are better interpreted by AI-assisted computers. The edutech sector has affected teachers.

ChatGPT answers queries, and can be used in customer service. Coding can be done by generative AI, instead of a programmer.

In creative fields, AI can be used to do editing and summarization. In advertising, different copies can be generated for promoting a product and different headlines too. Journalism can use AI to summarize a news story and to edit it.

When new jobs appear, there will be change in the organisation structure. There would be changes in job descriptions. Engineers can imagine new products, and use computer software to build a prototype. Such imaginative engineers will be called imagineers. Creators can do the product management functions of product development, branding and marketing. CEOs will do more co-ordinating work, rather than bossing over the specialists. A CEO will act as an orchestra conductor.

Educational institutions must rise to the occasion, and develop new courses and teaching methods to train man-machine combination of jobs.