Artificial intelligence is clearly the biggest talking point in technology right now. Since the launch of ChatGPT to the public by OpenAI in November 2022, industries across the world have braced themselves for the impact of AI applications. Sure, we have mostly seen talk of the negative impact, such as the opportunity for students to cheat on coursework with AI chatbots, but most experts are convinced the good will by far outweigh the bad.
Yet, assuming that AI will disrupt the majority of industries, which are set to be disrupted first? Below, we have picked out five general sectors that are already using AI and look set to experience the first wave of disruption.
Law
Law is perhaps the most interesting use case for AI. At first glance, you might think that legal professions are so highly skilled and require such a degree of human intuition that a lawyer could never be replaced by AI. Yet, the fundamental aspects of law are the interpretation of facts and precedence – two things that AI is adept at doing. It’s no coincidence that one of the first times that ChatGPT caught mainstream attention was its use in a legal hearing. We aren’t saying that high-flying lawyers will be replaced by software tomorrow. However, the use of AI is already being used to carry out the research work of paralegals, and we assume it will soon be used in low-risk cases.
Software Development
A lot has been made of the ability of AI tools to write essays and articles, but its ability to write in computer languages is much more natural to it. Again, we see the evidence already. Developers are using AI in Copilot to quickly automate tasks that would normally take hours in mere seconds. Much of the debate is centered around whether AI will replace software developers/engineers. Certainly, it is becoming incorporated into their jobs (there are currently one million developers using AI in GitHub’s Copilot), but it might not necessarily lead to mass layoffs. The demand for software developers globally has never been higher.
Gaming
We all saw the Hollywood strikes recently, which were largely about the role of AI in creating movies and television. However, gaming entertainment is likely to be impacted first and more fundamentally. Gaming is a broad church, of course, ranging from complex open-world games like Far Cry to easy-to-play casual games like Enter the Vault. But AI is set to change it in several ways. Gaming will become more personalized and customizable. As to the latter, it will soon become commonplace for players to start building their own games using open-sourced AI tools. That’s going to be a huge challenge for the video games industry.
Marketing
Of all the sectors on this list, marketing is where AI business tools are currently focused the most. It makes a lot of sense, particularly for B2C marketing. From tools to write your company’s weekly newsletter to the analysis of customer behaviors on your website, AI marketing tools have taken off in 2023. Most of the tools tend to help marketing departments work more efficiently, but others are helping marketers be smarter, such as targeted advertising and predictive analytics. In the near future, they are set to move into personalization. Marketing will never be the same.
Music Production
Finally, we will look at an area that is set to be a controversial one. Google, in particular, has put a lot of time (and money) into launching AI music creators, some of which are capable of creating music based on your favorite artists’ songs. Not everyone is happy with this, although some famous artists are on board. AI famously helped The Beatles release a “final” track recently. But on a more practical level, there are AI tools that help producers fine-tune tracks. From eliminating unwanted background noise to searching a vast library for a piece of music to sample, AI has already begun to shape music production.
