The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the job landscape for many workers in Australia, including freelance editor Cassy Polimeni. After transitioning from print magazine jobs to freelance editing, Polimeni has faced new challenges as AI technology has become more prevalent. "Those freelance roles [disappeared] with my major clients, and I started looking for work again," she said. Job alerts for editing positions revealed that 80% of available roles were focused on correcting mistakes made by AI language models. "To me that's like, why would you train yourself out of relevance?" she added.

Polimeni is among numerous individuals who responded to a recent call for feedback on AI's impact on their careers. Respondents ranged from university students to seasoned professionals, all expressing concerns about AI's ability to replicate their skills. While some see potential benefits in AI handling repetitive tasks, others worry about the diminishing entry-level opportunities for newcomers in various fields.

The National AI Centre reports that 40% of small and medium businesses in Australia are adopting AI technologies. A Microsoft Work Trend Index found that 84% of Australian knowledge workers are already using generative AI in their jobs. Greg Bamber, a professor at Monash University, noted that many workers are adopting AI tools independently, often before their organizations officially implement them.

Some workers, like Andy from Tasmania, find AI helpful for tasks such as drafting emails. "It may have been a bit 'heated', and [AI tool] Copilot is excellent at helping me stay out of an HR meeting," he said. However, others have expressed frustration, stating that they now spend significant time correcting AI-generated errors and dealing with low-quality outputs. Thomas from Victoria likened his experience to a teacher correcting poorly translated essays, saying, "I now spend hours each week answering, editing, reworking AI outputs provided to me by others in the organization."

Concerns about job security are prevalent. Catriona from New South Wales expressed her apprehension about job hunting in an environment where employers are increasingly replacing human roles with AI. "Given how pretty much every industry is trying desperately to squeeze out the unpredictable chaotic human factor and replace it with more agreeable, if hallucination-prone, chatbots," she said.

Despite the challenges, experts suggest that AI can perform certain tasks more efficiently than humans, such as summarizing information and drafting documents. Bamber indicated that jobs most susceptible to AI replacement are those that are routine and heavily reliant on text or numbers. Professions commonly held by migrants, such as IT and accounting, are particularly at risk.

The impact of AI is also felt in creative industries. Taylor Leslie, an animation student, is reconsidering her career path due to AI's ability to generate images and text. "I've started to think about roles that I would like that won't be affected by [AI], and unfortunately, in the arts industry, that's practically zero," she said.

Job cuts at major companies like Amazon have raised alarms about the future of employment as they increase investments in AI. Bamber noted that while AI has slowed hiring in some administrative roles, overall employment levels at firms adopting AI have remained stable. He emphasized the importance of how employers reorganize work around AI.

Some workers, like Trudy Schulte, a medical typist, have seen their hours drastically reduced due to AI transcription software. Schulte, who had worked for doctors for 13 years, saw her hours drop from 24 to just one per week. "I had no complaints about my work, and I was accurate," she said.

Bamber advocates for a collaborative approach to managing AI's impact on jobs. He suggests that employers should focus on redeploying workers rather than replacing them and that governments should consider implementing training credits for displaced workers.

For Polimeni, the decision to embrace AI is also a moral one. She has pivoted to writing grant proposals and continues to create children's books and conduct workshops. "If you're on the breadline, you take what there is, but to me I would rather do a million [other] things first," she said. "It just seems too dystopian to me."