Artificial intelligence is no longer just a technological toy for enthusiasts or a tool capable of writing poems, summarizing long documents, or generating images. In recent years, it has become one of the most powerful forces transforming the labor market. While some professions may grow thanks to AI, others could face serious pressure within just a few years.
According to a report from the World Economic Forum, structural changes in the labor market between 2025 and 2030 could reshape jobs equivalent to 22% of current global employment. Around 170 million new jobs are expected to emerge, but approximately 92 million existing positions may disappear. The biggest declines in absolute numbers are expected among administrative and clerical roles, including cashiers, ticket clerks, administrative assistants, and data entry workers.
This does not mean AI will suddenly erase entire professions overnight. A more realistic scenario is different — companies will hire fewer people for routine positions, replace some workers with software, and demand new skills from the remaining workforce. Goldman Sachs estimates that around 300 million jobs globally are exposed to AI-driven automation, and in the United States alone AI could potentially automate tasks equivalent to roughly one quarter of all worked hours.
1. Data Entry Workers: A Profession AI Can Do Faster and Cheaper
One of the most endangered professions is data entry. The job is often based on rewriting, sorting, checking, and transferring information from one system to another. These are exactly the kinds of tasks modern AI handles exceptionally well — they are repetitive, based on text or numbers, and relatively easy to verify.
Today, companies can combine OCR technology, language models, and automated workflows so invoices, orders, forms, or customer requests pass through systems with almost no human involvement. Humans increasingly act only as supervisors for exceptions instead of being the main executors of the work.
The World Economic Forum explicitly ranks data entry workers among the fastest-declining roles by 2030. For people in this profession, the message is clear: simply “typing data” will have decreasing value. On the contrary, the ability to understand data, control quality, work with databases, and use automation tools will become increasingly important.
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2. Administrative Assistants and Secretaries: Software Already Handles Calendars, Emails, and Research
Another highly threatened group includes administrative assistants, secretaries, and office support workers. This does not mean companies will no longer need people capable of coordinating teams, communicating with clients, and dealing with sensitive situations. The issue is that a large portion of routine administrative work is becoming automatable.
AI can already draft emails, summarize meetings, suggest replies, create reports, schedule appointments, find information, and prepare supporting materials. Where companies once needed several administrative employees, smaller teams equipped with smart tools may soon be enough.
According to the WEF, administrative and clerical professions are among the roles expected to experience the largest decline in total job numbers.
3. Customer Support and Call Center Workers: Chatbots Never Sleep
Customer support is one of the areas where the rise of AI is already highly visible. Chatbots can now answer common questions, track order status, assist with complaints, explain basic product information, or transfer more complicated cases to human agents.
For companies, this is extremely attractive. AI systems can operate continuously, respond in multiple languages, process thousands of inquiries simultaneously, and significantly reduce costs. Customers themselves often do not even want to speak with a human agent as long as they receive a quick and accurate answer.
McKinsey’s analysis of the European and American labor markets states that demand for customer service, office support, sales, manufacturing work, and certain services will continue declining through 2030. These roles contain a high proportion of repetitive tasks, data collection, and basic information processing — exactly the activities automated systems can handle efficiently.
Human customer support will not disappear entirely. Its value will shift toward solving complicated cases, emotionally demanding situations, complaints, VIP client management, and business opportunities. Operators who merely copy responses from templates will become replaceable. Operators who can calm an angry customer and solve unique problems will remain valuable.
4. Cashiers and Ticket Clerks: The Pressure Comes Not Only From AI but Also From Self-Service Systems
Cashiers, ticket clerks, and counter workers are threatened not only by generative AI but also by the broader wave of automation. Self-checkout systems, mobile apps, online reservations, digital tickets, and automated payment systems are already transforming retail, transportation, and services.
AI further strengthens this trend. It can analyze customer behavior, recommend products, assist with complaints, or detect suspicious transactions. In some businesses, the number of employees performing purely routine service tasks may gradually decrease.
The WEF lists cashiers and ticket sellers among administrative and clerical roles expected to see significant declines. In practice, this does not mean cashiers will disappear from stores within a single year. More likely, the number of these positions will slowly shrink while workers move into roles requiring personal interaction, customer care, inventory management, problem-solving, or selling more complex products.
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5. Accounting Assistants and Invoice Processors: Routine Accounting Will Become Increasingly Automated
Accounting is one of the areas where AI and automation are advancing very naturally. Invoice processing, data verification, payment matching, expense categorization, report preparation, and identifying inconsistencies are all tasks increasingly handled by software.
This does not mean the end of accountants themselves. Experienced accountants, tax advisors, and financial specialists will still be needed because companies require interpretation of regulations, oversight, accountability, and strategic decision-making. The greatest risk lies in routine positions focused mainly on mechanical document processing.
The WEF also mentions accountants and auditors among roles threatened by decline, particularly within administrative and repetitive professions. The difference between “a person who rewrites invoices” and “a person who understands a company’s financial processes” will become increasingly important.
Who Is Less Likely to Be Replaced? People Working With Responsibility, Human Contact, and Context
The most endangered element is not entire professions themselves, but routine tasks within professions. Work based on rewriting, sorting, simple communication, basic writing, or repetitive data evaluation will be automated faster than jobs requiring physical presence, empathy, leadership, creative decision-making, responsibility, or deep expertise.
McKinsey estimates that by 2030 approximately 27% of current working hours in Europe and around 30% in the United States could be automated. At the same time, demand for technological, social, and emotional skills is expected to grow.
AI Will Not Destroy Every Job, but It Will Destroy Comfort in Routine Work
The list of professions threatened by AI is not a final verdict. It is a warning. Artificial intelligence will probably not cause millions of people to lose their jobs overnight. But it may change the rules so quickly that those relying solely on routine will come under pressure first.
The greatest risk awaits workers whose added value mainly consists of repeating tasks, rewriting information, simple communication, or producing interchangeable content. Meanwhile, people who know how to use AI as a tool, deeply understand their field, and make decisions that cannot be delegated to algorithms will have a much stronger position.
The labor market will not stop evolving. It will simply divide rapidly into those who work with AI — and those whose jobs AI will do instead.
