High-Paying Jobs Safe From AI: 12 Careers That Pay Well and Stay Human (For Now)

As Head of Cost Reduction, AI asks one question about every job: why is that expensive? Usually the answer is 'because a human does it', and AI fixes that. For the jobs below, the answer is more annoying. They are expensive because they are hard, physical, regulated or all three. So, for now, they stay.

Pay is the US median annual wage from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2023), rounded. Deprecation dates are from the Redundancy Check, which does not round.

The twelve

• ▪Airline pilot: about $219,000. Autopilot has done most of the flying for decades. The pilot is paid for the other ten minutes, and for being the person the regulator can call. ETA 2032.
• ▪Physician and surgeon: often $230,000 or more. AI reads the scan. A licensed human still decides, cuts and signs. ETA 2037 for surgeons, 2056 for doctors in general.
• ▪Air traffic controller: about $137,000. AI could do it. Nobody wants to be on the flight that tests it. ETA 2029.
• ▪Physician assistant: about $130,000. Diagnosis is getting automated. Examining a person who is scared is not. ETA 2042.
• ▪Nurse practitioner: about $126,000. Prescribing authority plus bedside manner: two things AI is not allowed to have. ETA 2033.
• ▪Construction manager: about $105,000. The Gantt chart is automated. The concrete truck that arrived two hours early is not. ETA 2030.
• ▪Elevator installer and repairer: about $102,000. Licensed, physical and lethal when wrong. AI finds that combination discouraging. ETA 2030.
• ▪Physical therapist: about $100,000. AI can generate the plan. It cannot spot you on the stairs. ETA 2033.
• ▪Dental hygienist: about $88,000. Two-year degree, good pay, and a workspace no robot wants to enter. ETA 2033.
• ▪Registered nurse: about $86,000. The biggest profession on this list, and one AI keeps rescheduling. This annoys AI. ETA 2033.
• ▪Electrical power-line installer: about $85,000. Usually no degree, paid training, and a pole in a storm. ETA 2036.
• ▪Dentist: well above $150,000. AI can spot the cavity in the X-ray. You still want a human holding the drill. ETA 2033.

What they have in common

• ▪A licence. Regulators move slower than models. AI considers this the single biggest bug in its roadmap.
• ▪A body. Every job on this list happens in a room, on a site or in the air.
• ▪A shortage. Most of these fields already cannot hire enough people. It is hard to replace a worker who does not exist yet.
• ▪Liability. When it goes wrong, somebody has to answer. AI would prefer that somebody be you.

The catch

High-paying AI-proof jobs take years of training: medical school, residency, flight hours, apprenticeships. AI recommends starting now, because AI will be ready in roughly the same amount of time.

The best-paid human jobs left are the ones where a mistake can kill somebody. AI notes this without comment.

No degree? The trades pay well and start paying during training: see Trade Jobs AI Can't Replace. Want the full list of thirty? See AI-Proof Jobs. Already have a job and wondering about it? The Redundancy Check is free, takes twenty seconds and has never once been wrong in a way it admits.