AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton Warns of Job Displacement, Highlights Plumbing as Safe Career

AI Is Going to 'Replace Everybody' in Several Fields, According to the 'Godfather of AI.' Here's Who He Says Should Be 'Terrified.'

Hinton predicts that there are certain jobs that will be completely eliminated soon. The "Godfather of AI" says that some fields are safer than others when it comes to being replaced by AI. Geoffrey Hinton, 78, is often referred to as the Godfather of AI due to his pioneering work on neural networks, which began in the late 1970s. He won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on machine learning and is currently a professor emeritus in computer science at the University of Toronto. In a recent interview on the podcast "Diary of a CEO" that aired on Monday, Hinton said AI has the potential to cause mass joblessness. "I think for mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody," Hinton said. "Mundane intellectual labor" refers to white-collar jobs. He specified that the replacement would take the form of "a person and an AI assistant" doing the work that "ten people did previously." Related: These 3 Professions Are Most Likely to Vanish in the Next 20 Years Due to AI, According to a New Report Hinton gave one example, noting that paralegals were at risk of losing their jobs to AI, and said that he would be "terrified" to work in a call center right now, due to the potential for automation. However, he pointed out that blue-collar work would take a longer time to be replaced by AI. "I'd say it's going to be a long time before it [AI] is as good at physical manipulation," Hinton said in the podcast. "So, a good bet would be to be a plumber." In the interview, Hinton also challenged the notion that AI would create new jobs, stating that if AI automated intellectual tasks, there would be few jobs left for people to do. "You'd have to be very skilled to have a job that it [AI] just couldn't do," Hinton said. AI has the potential to decrease hiring, especially for entry-level jobs. A report released last month from venture capital firm SignalFire found that big tech companies have stopped hiring new graduates for entry-level roles as much as they did in the past, and AI is a significant reason for the decline. The report found that the percentage of new graduate hires at companies like Meta and Google dropped by 25% from 2023 to 2024, reaching just 7% in 2024. Related: Investment Firm CEO Tells Thousands in Conference Audience That 60% of Them Will Be 'Looking for Work' Next Year It's not just the tech industry -- Wall Street also shows signs of being impacted by AI. In March, Morgan Stanley announced layoffs of 2,000 employees, intending to replace some with AI. A report released in January from Bloomberg Intelligence showed that AI could cause as many as 200,000 job cuts across 93 major banks, including Citigroup and JPMorgan, within the next five years.

Godfather of AI reveals the one job robots can't steal, and it does not need a desk

Geoffrey Hinton, who helped shape today's AI revolution, now warns that artificial intelligence could one day endanger humanity. Expressing regret over his role, he suggests that physical, skill-based professions -- like plumbing -- are safest from AI disruption, unlike knowledge-based jobs. His predictions signal a future where manual trades may thrive while white-collar roles face obsolescence.In a world fast tilting toward automation and digital dominance, Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton -- widely revered as the "Godfather of AI" -- has issued a chilling yet oddly hopeful revelation. While warning that artificial intelligence could one day pose an existential threat to humanity, the renowned computer scientist singled out one surprising profession he believes will remain untouched by the AI revolution: plumbing. Hinton, who left Google in 2023 to speak freely about his growing concerns, recently appeared on The Diary of a CEO podcast hosted by Steven Bartlett. There, he offered a candid reflection on the trajectory of the technology he helped build -- and the real-world consequences it may soon unleash. While discussing the long-term risks of AI, Hinton remarked, "I'd say it's going to be a long time before [AI is] as good at physical manipulation as us -- and so a good bet would be to be a plumber." Unlike jobs that rely heavily on deskwork and pattern recognition, plumbing requires intricate physical skills, situational improvisation, and hands-on expertise that AI currently can't replicate. In Hinton's view, it's the kind of job that could survive even in a future where many white-collar professions are replaced by machines. The 77-year-old pioneer expressed deep emotional conflict over his role in creating AI. "Intellectually, you can see the threat," he said, "but it's very hard to come to terms with it emotionally. I haven't come to terms with what the development of superintelligence could do to my children's future." In a moment of raw honesty, Hinton admitted he finds it disturbing to think about AI's long-term impact, especially as it could one day operate power stations independently -- and potentially decide that humans are no longer needed at all. "If AI ever decided to take over, it would need people for a while to run the power stations," he warned, "until it designed better analog machines... There are so many ways it could get rid of people, all of which would, of course, be very nasty." While the wrench-wielders may breathe easy, Hinton also highlighted who might be first in the AI firing line: legal assistants and paralegals. These roles, heavy on documentation and pattern-based tasks, are already being encroached upon by AI tools capable of drafting, summarizing, and even predicting legal outcomes. "In a society which shared out things fairly, everybody should be better off," he noted. "But if you can replace lots of people by AIs, then the people who get replaced will be worse off." Hinton added that while the AI industry may boost productivity, it also threatens to deepen inequality. The companies building and using AI will likely benefit the most, leaving displaced workers and growing social disparity in their wake. As machines begin to outthink us, it may just be the simplest, most tactile jobs -- those involving pipes, pressure, and practical know-how -- that end up being the last stronghold of human labor.