Three Jobs That Will Survive the AI Revolution

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The AI revolution is already disrupting jobs across multiple industries, with technology that seemed like science fiction just months ago now becoming reality. Professor Stuart Russell's BBC Reith Lectures from 2021 offer a measured, academic perspective on AI's impact that predicted many developments we're now witnessing without hyperbole.

• IBM recently laid off 8,000 HR staff as AI takes over cognitive tasks
• UK graduate recruitment down 67%* as companies can use AI for entry-level tasks (*scroll down for a clarification on this stat)
• AI is affecting cognitive jobs now but will soon impact physical trades too
• Agricultural technology from companies like John Deere demonstrates how AI is transforming traditional physical work
• Three roles will likely survive: innovators solving complex problems, automators building AI systems, and human-AI performance psychology coaches
• The last defendable human skills will be helping other humans optimize their brain states
• High-charge brain states enable complex thinking that AI cannot yet replicate

We now have our AI Era Leadership Accelerator, where we support people to become AI era leaders who are future-proofed and in-demand experts. Check out the link beneath this podcast for more information about our monthly challenge programme, or contact us through our website.

*Graduate job listings in the UK have fallen by 67% since 2019, with AI playing a major role in that decline. While economic pressures and hiring slowdowns have contributed, experts estimate that 30–50% of the drop is directly linked to AI and automation reshaping entry-level roles — especially in sectors like finance, law, consulting, tech, and media. As routine graduate tasks are absorbed by AI, employers are hiring fewer juniors.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, habit Mechanics.
It's Dr John Finn here.
I hope you're well Justrecording a walking pod.
Over the last probably sevendays, there has been a lot of
discussion about just howdevastating AI is potentially
going to be to human jobs ispotentially going to be to human

(00:26):
jobs, and some commentatorscompletely buy into this.
On the other end, some peoplesay this is all hype.
It's not real, and I thought areally interesting resource that
I wanted to point out to peopleis the BBC Reef Lecture Series.

(00:48):
The BBC do Christmas ReefLecture Series and in I think it
was 2021, december 2021, sobefore we had the release and

(01:08):
the discussions around thingslike chat, gtp, these new
generative AI systems, thelecturer if that's the right
word for the Reef Lecture Serieswas Professor Stuart Russell,

(01:31):
and Professor Stuart Russell islet me get this right he is the
founder of the Centre of HumanCompatible Artificial
Intelligence at University ofCalifornia, berkeley, and I
listened to that lecture series.
I think there's there's at leastfour one hour lectures and he

(01:54):
he goes.
He starts from covering ai at avery high level and he goes
into these different kind ofverticals, if you like, for how
ai is going to impact humans indifferent sectors, and there's
nothing hype around what he'ssaying.
He's coming out almost from acold clinical academic

(02:18):
perspective.
So he's actually he's English,but, yeah, he's a professor at
Berkeley, california and he hasa very measured way of talking
about this stuff.
And what surprised me is howmuch of what he he's not really
seen.
He's not really.
You don't really hear about him, stuart Russell.

(02:41):
You hear more about thegodfathers of AI, like, I think,
geoffrey Hinton, who's anotherEnglish guy, and there's a
couple of I think it's two ofthe godfathers, isn't there One
French and I think one maybeCanadian?
You don't really hear muchabout Stuart Russell, but if

(03:04):
you're thinking, is this stuffreal that I'm hearing about?
Listen to those lecture seriesbecause he's almost predicted
the future, um, without the hype, just in real terms, and it's
really interesting.
One of the things he talksabout, because he's pretty
dangerous, is the use of thingslike drones and and you know,

(03:25):
just this week we saw thisalmost like SS-style operation
from the Ukrainian armed forcesagainst the Russian armed forces
using these drone technologies.
That wouldn't have been thoughtabout probably even 12, 24
months ago, if that evenpossible.

(03:46):
And all this is being driven byAI and I think, ultimately,
what Stuart Russell is saying,which completely dovetails with
the most extreme.
What people might find the mostextreme impact that AI is going

(04:07):
to have, is that just slowly butsurely, um, ai is gonna get
better and better at being ableto do every single role, every
single task that humanscurrently do, and that doesn't

(04:28):
just right now.
We're seeing roles like HR.
I think Microsoft just laid offnot Microsoft IBM just laid off
8,000 people from their HRdepartments.
We're seeing, I think, I thinkin the UK, I think in the UK I
think this is the figure for thelast 12 months that graduate
recruitment is down 67% Becausecompanies don't need low-skilled

(04:56):
workers anymore and most ofwhat graduates do is low-skilled
compared to the people thathave been doing their jobs for
20 years.
They can just get AI to do that.
Finance is being affected.
Accountants is being affected.
Skilled compared to their, thepeople that have been doing
their jobs for 20 years right,they can just get ai to do that.
Finance is being affected,accountants is being affected.
So we're seeing right now theemergence of these technologies
and they are disrupting morecognitive skills, but actually

(05:23):
what stuart russell also pointsout is they're going to move
into the physical skills as well.
So lots of people are moving tosort of the trades, but that
will also be disrupted thosesectors by AI.
And, if you, there's a reallyinteresting Amazon TV programme
called Clarkson's Farm and Isuppose Jeremy Clarkson's been

(05:47):
like mustard people like him.
I don't like him.
But what I find reallyinteresting, having done quite a
lot of work for John Deere JohnDeere are, I think, the biggest
manufacturer of agriculturalequipment in the world and they
see themselves as a technologycompany.
So when you go to John Deere HQin the UK you know they have

(06:09):
boats that are cutting the grass, for example, but they have
algorithms that are predictingyou know what.
What's the best way to get thebest return on this crop?
What's the best way to promotehealthy soil conditions?
And what's really interestingin the jeremy clarkson
documentary for me is actuallyhow technology is being used not

(06:32):
software, hardware to actuallydo jobs that farmers would have
used to have done, whetherthat's putting in a post like
just something being hammereddown, wrapping a hair bale, the
combine harvesters how cleverthey are.
I think that's a greatdemonstration of what the future

(06:53):
is going to start to look likeagain.
The machines are not doing it bythemselves, they're co-working
with humans.
But one thing that stuartrussell says is that the last
sort of defendable set of skillsfor humans are going to be what
I would call human AIperformance psychology skills.

(07:14):
It's going to be the skills ofhumans helping other humans,
because that is going to remainthe most difficult thing for AI
to be able to do.
And you know, in my new book,train your Brain for the AI
Revolution, I point towards thisin chapter I think 27.

(07:34):
I talk about three roles for thefuture that I think will emerge
.
There will be, I think, theinnovators that are.
Just their job is to solvecomplex problems.
That's what they're working onevery day.
How do we create a vaccine forthis?
How do we create buildings thatabsorb CO2 instead of pump it
out?
How do we build bettereducation systems for our young

(07:57):
people that are going to allowthem to thrive in the AI world?
So we're going to have theseinnovators and then we're going
to have the automators peoplethat build the systems.
So already we're seeing to havethe automators people that
build the systems.
So already we're seeing thatmedium skilled developers have
been pretty much wiped out by aialready.
Let's be real ai is a baby.
It's just a baby.

(08:18):
It's just a beginning and it'salready wiping out very skilled
jobs, but we're still going toneed humans in the loop on this
stuff.
Um, so we're going to have theautomators that are going to
build the software and thehardware and, you know, build
the machines that actually dothat.
But then the third role isgoing to be human ai performance

(08:42):
psychology coaches, because theinnovators and the automators
are only going to be as good astheir ability to manage their
brain states and consistentlyget into their high charge brain
states, which is the the typeof highly mental, complex

(09:03):
thinking that ai is is leastwell able to do so.
Human air performancepsychology coaches are going to
be working with humans to makeit, with innovators and the
automators to help them to dothat.
So I'm not trying to paint somedystopian picture of the future.

(09:27):
I think this is real and it'semerging and all the evidence
that we're seeing is allpointing in the same direction.
But if you think it's high, Iwould really recommend just go
to the BBC or you can googlethis or use chatGTP or something
.
Look for the Wraith lectureseries by professor stewart

(09:49):
russell and I think it's fromdecember 2021 and I think you'll
find it very instructive.
No hype, it's just.
This is how this world leadingexpert in this technology this
is this is what he waspredicting would be unfolding.
Um, you know, in the yearsahead, and now we are.

(10:12):
You know, we're four and a halfyears since those those lecture
series was recorded and it'ssurprising how much of what he
said is actually coming tofruition.
Um, so I hope that's insightful.
Um, I I see my role here as Iwant to help people, I want to
educate people, but we need tobe realistic.

(10:33):
We can't bury our heads in thesand on this.
We've got to educate ourselves.
We've got to learn about thetech, we've got to learn how to
embed it into our work cultures,into our workflows and our work
cultures into our workflows and, yeah, and our work cultures.
Um, so, yeah, I hope that wasinteresting.

(10:54):
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(11:15):
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(11:41):
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Okay, enjoy the rest of the dayand remember you're only ever

(12:03):
one brain state habit away.