{"id":191490,"date":"2025-09-01T12:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191490\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:59:11","slug":"career-counselors-share-how-ai-may-replace-jobs-and-provide-opportunities-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/191490\/","title":{"rendered":"Career counselors share how AI may replace jobs and provide opportunities \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is your job or career choice artificial intelligence proof, and do you have the skills needed to be competitive in an emerging AI world?<\/p>\n

Those are among questions students, job seekers, career counselors and educators face as the new cutting-edge form of artificial intelligence, so-called generative AI, begins to reshape the employment landscape costing some jobs while also creating new ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are anxious about how AI might affect their future,\u201d said Michelle Sebasco, director of academic partnerships and continuing education at University Park-based Governors State University.\u00a0\u201cAI is not just an idea anymore. It\u2019s here. The future is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichelleMichelle Sebasco (Governors State University)<\/p>\n

Students are caught in the middle, worried about choosing a career path that might become obsolete and unsure how to prepare for jobs that are just now being created, she said.<\/p>\n

Generative AI is a form of AI that can create new, original content in response to a user\u2019s prompt or request including text, images, music, other audio and software code. It learns patterns and structures from large datasets.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing forward, I think certainly there\u00a0will be job loss due to greater use of AI,\u201d said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and labor expert at Chicago-based global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are also going to be whole new jobs and industries created because of AI. But the concern is that cuts will come very quickly and that the new jobs and industries will be built more slowly. There could be this period of a lot of pain American workers could face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out of 62,075 job cuts announced in July, a 140% increase year over year, AI was cited as the reason for 10,000 of those cuts, according to the latest report from the firm. Technology is the leading private sector in job cuts, with 89,251 in 2025, a 36% increase from the 65,863 cuts tracked through July 2024. The industry is being reshaped in part by the advancement of AI, the firm noted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile tech job postings on Indeed have plunged after a post-pandemic boom and have been weak since mid-2023, according to the hiring platform. As of early July 2025, they were down 36% from their early-2020 levels, Indeed\u2019s Hiring Lab reported in July.<\/p>\n

Sebasco, whose work includes partnering with workforce development organizations, said workforce centers have seen an influx of information technology professionals being laid off due to AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0never saw this before, and I never thought I would,\u201d she said of the layoffs in what have traditionally been high-demand jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just not as needed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Affected workers are coming back to train and find other opportunities, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have strong conviction that AI agents will change how we all work and live,\u201d said\u00a0Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, in a June posting on the company\u2019s website. The company has operations in the south suburbs.<\/p>\n

Think of agents as software systems that use AI to perform tasks on behalf of users or other systems, Jassy said.<\/p>\n

Agents let you tell them what you want and do things like scour the web and various data sources and summarize results, engage in deep research, write code, find anomalies, highlight interesting insights, translate language and code into other variants and automate a lot of tasks that consume our time, he explained.<\/p>\n

He expects there ultimately will be billions of such agents across every company and in every field.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of these agents have yet to be built, but make no mistake, they\u2019re coming, and coming fast,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Amazon has more than 1,000 Generative AI services and applications in progress or built, which is a small fraction of what Amazon will ultimately build, according to Jassy. He expects in the next few years, AI will reduce the company\u2019s workforce as it gets efficiency gains from using AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Among jobs most at risk from AI are those with repetitive tasks or knowledge-based tasks, said Challenger. Customer service jobs are also vulnerable to being replaced and call centers could be ripe for disruption, he said.<\/p>\n

Careers that are considered \u201cAI-proof\u201d are those that rely heavily on uniquely human skills that are difficult, if not impossible, to automate, Sebasco said. That includes health care positions such as clinical medical assistants, recovery coaches, and certified alcohol and drug counselors. They require empathy, complex ethical judgment and a human touch that AI can\u2019t replicate, she explained.<\/p>\n

Skilled trades professions such as computer numerical control machinists, are also considered safe, as are drone operators and first responders, which are jobs that involve complex problem-solving in unpredictable physical environments and that require manual dexterity, Sebasco said.<\/p>\n

There is also some safety for creative professionals, she contends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile AI can generate content, interior decorators, grant writers, editors and musicians who bring genuine creativity, cultural understanding and a unique point of view remain essential,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also doesn\u2019t expect teachers and counselors to be replaced because they build relationships and provide mentorship and emotional support that are crucial for learning and development, she said.<\/p>\n

When it comes to new jobs emerging from AI, they will be centered on building, managing and guiding AI technology, she said. That includes AI and machine learning specialists who design and build the AI models that power things such as manufacturing tools and medical diagnostics, she said.<\/p>\n

She said other emerging jobs include:<\/p>\n