Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has gone from science fiction to reality.

And it’s only getting started.

AI computer systems can now see, hear, read, and learn in ways that seemed impossible not long ago.

While this new technology opens up amazing possibilities, it also means big changes for certain careers and professions.

Some much sooner than we might have guessed.

Here are five high-level jobs that will be heavily impacted by the rise of AI in the near future:

#1 Radiologists

Radiologists are specialist doctors who analyze X-rays, MRI scans, CT scans and other medical images to diagnose injuries and diseases.

So far, so good. What could AI possibly disrupt here? It’s highly skilled work that takes years of intensive training, isn’t it?

Well, AI systems are becoming incredibly good at this.

They can examine hundreds of images in minutes or even seconds, and spot tiny details that even an expert’s eyes could miss.

AI algorithms can now detect cancerous tumors, brain hemorrhages, bone fractures and other problems as accurately as human radiologists. Or even more so.

While radiologists won’t be replaced entirely (at least in the next few years), their role may shrink significantly, as AI handles more routine image analysis.

That’s not all bad, though.

The time of human radiologists could then be spent and focused on more complex cases and procedures that require human intervention.

But it will undoubtedly lead to a great loss of jobs in the area of radiology over the coming decades.

#2 Financial Analysts

Smart investors pay close attention to economic trends, market data, company performance metrics and other financial info before buying or selling.

That’s what makes them money.

Analyzing all those numbers to spot good investment opportunities is the role of financial analysts. It requires both quantitative skills and deep market knowledge.

But here’s where computers shine.

AI excels at crunching huge amounts of data to identify patterns and trends missed by humans.

AI systems are becoming adept at considering news, market shifts, historical data and other factors to make buy/sell recommendations.

As a result, AI could eventually replace human financial analysts for many investment analysis tasks.

It’s just not logical to pay humans for a job that AI can do faster, in larger scales, and cheaper, too.

That’s the burden of technology.

#3 Legal Researchers

Practicing law requires extensive research into relevant laws, past court cases, legal precedents, and mountains of other materials.

Things that have all been down mainly by hand up until now.

These tasks are often handled by legal assistants and paralegals, who are skilled researchers.

Enter AI…

AI language models can rapidly sift through billions of pages of legal documents, far beyond what any human could process.

They quickly connect the dots.

AI will identify relevant cases, statutes, and legal data to build argumentative briefs and evidence much faster than human researchers.

In a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost.

While not eliminating these roles, AI could vastly reduce the need for human legal researchers.

#4 Journalists and Writers

The most obvious one, yet probably the hardest to master.

AI is good for writing.

Whether news articles, marketing content, stories or scripts, skilled human writers craft compelling narratives that inform and entertain.

However, large AI language models have become amazingly proficient at generating coherent, readable text on almost any topic.

It’s not great creative output, but it gets the job done for generic text, copy, and all sorts of, let’s call it emotionless content.

AI writers can produce passable news stories, marketing copy, short fiction and more at a fraction of the time and cost.

While top creative writing and reporting will still require skilled humans for certain types of writing, AI could automate huge amounts of standard copywriting, journalism, and writing work.

It’s better to team up with the devil in this case, I would say.

#5 Software Developers

Computer programming lies at the heart of the digital world we live in.

Software developers are the highly-trained coders who architect and build the apps, websites, games, and systems that run on our computers and devices.

Software is everywhere. We can’t live without it anymore. Nothing would run.

While programming is precise, technical work, AI models have become proficient at generating code when given proper instructions.

Proper instruction being the key here.

AI can automate many coding tasks, fix bugs, optimize programs and may even generate novel code for new applications.

As this capability grows, the demand for human software developers could diminish for all but the most cutting-edge work.

At best, AI will be the ultimate coding sidekick. Worst case? Developers will be completely overtaken by skilled prompt engineers who have never seen a line of code, but can instruct AI to develop a program in seconds.

We’ll see.

The Impact of AI

Of course, AI won’t completely eliminate these jobs tomorrow. I hope.

Highly-skilled human experts will still be needed, at least for oversight and handling edge cases that confound AI systems.

But make no mistake – the AI revolution is well underway and changing the nature of work across many careers and industries.

Just like all the revolutions (industrial, technical) before.

Jobs will be lost.

And new ones will be established.

As AI automates routine cognitive tasks, the role of humans in these fields will evolve.

Individuals may need to upskill, focusing more on areas requiring creativity, judgment, human skills and interfaces where AI information has to be interpreted and acted upon by humans.

Those able to work alongside AI, will benefit from this new revolution. The others will be left behind.