Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, genetics and biotechnology, will cause widespread disruption to labor markets over the next ten years. Since most degrees translate to jobs after graduation, what you choose to study in the university will also be affected by these advancements in technology.
Today, we bring you 10 most useless university degrees in the next 10 years. Hopefully, this will help someone make smarter career decision.
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Let’s begin…
- Banking Degree
A. I and other technological advancements will cause lots of jobs in the banking industry to become redundant. Banks will need fewer and fewer branches due to advancement in financial technology. As a result more people in the banking industry will lose their jobs. Why study a degree in a field that is rapidly skrinking? This is not to say that banks will be completely run by robots. No. What we are trying to say is that a lot of banking jobs will no longer be needed in the nearest future. Hence, make your career decision wisely.
- Accounting degree
According to Forbes report on the future of accounting, it is expected that accounting tasks such as tax, payroll, audits, and banking would be completely automated using Artificial Intelligence.Tasks like invoice payments, bank reconciliations, risk assessments, and time-consuming audit processes will be easily and better handled by accounting software.
While there are arguments that these advancements will help and not hinder accounting, there are still real threats to traditional accounting job roles. Some sources predict that accountant roles will move towards consulting and advising. If that be the case, then fewer traditional accounting jobs will be available.
- Health Care Degrees
There are lots of A.I tools and programs that will severely impact the medical field. Some of these areas are medical diagnostics, Radiology, and Medical Imagining (among others). With A.I it will become easier to diagnose complex cases and rare diseases, process lab results, medical histories, diagnostic images, and patient characteristics.
Again while the aim of A.I in healthcare could be to provide professionals with better decision-making tools, the jobs that largely involve repetitive tasks are likely to be at risk.
- Marketing Degrees
Traditional marketing is already disrupted with the presence of digital media and marketing technologies. Future advances in information technology will negatively affect marketing jobs. Companies now consider knowledge of digital marketing and analytic tools and strategies over academic qualification in marketing. If you decide to go to school to study digital marketing for four years, your knowledge will be outdated by the time to graduate.
- Law Degree
Ever heard of the whole first robot lawyer called DonotPay? Well, it was developed in the UK in 2016 and was designed to provide free advice for people looking to contest their parking fines. It mines documents and offers solutions based on a series of simple questions that it asks. You could become a plaintiff on the strength of the documents that it draws up from your answers. The best part is that you get the service for free.
Imagine how many more apps like this would be in operation by 2029. Paralegals will lose jobs and lawyers who have not adjusted their operations run the risk of losing their jobs. Point is, the traditional law degree of yesteryears might soon become redundant if the education system is not disrupted.
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- Journalism Degree
Journalism as we know it is at risk, thanks or no-thanks to contemporary media on one hand and technological advancements on the other hand. With social media and blogging platform, everyday people are also significantly encroaching into the jobs of journalists. On the other hand, news organizations have started using machine learning algorithms to write their stories. Forbes magazine already uses an AI tool called Bertie to assist in providing reporters with first drafts and templates for news stories. A Chinese state news outlet, Xinhua, created the first female AI news anchor in November 2018. Jia Jia, a humanoid robot journalist interviewed Kelvin Kelly, the editor of Wired Magazine. This trend is only seeing its early stages. More innovation and ultimately disruption is possible to follow.
- Studio Arts Degree
Except the romantic ideal of a struggling talented artist appeals to you, you might not take a degree in Studio Arts. Why? because technology has given the world – robot artists. These automated artists are able to create thousands of new, unique images at the touch of a button.
In April 2017, three young French men started an outfit named Obvious. They have been able to produce 11 artworks just by teaching a computer about art history and showing it how to make its work. The first ultra-realistic robot artist named A.Da was launched recently. It is only a matter of time before versions pick up the baton.
- Fashion Design
While a degree in fashion design isn’t such a bad idea, if you choose to study in today’s world, you will need an innate artistic ability, a strong aptitude for creativity and a healthy fear of A.I. This is because the fashion world will not be spared by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The invasion has begun with advance forces like Stitch Fix.
With this fashion service, to get stylish apparel is to fill out a profile. Your data is analyzed by a machine which help stylist choose pieces that fit your tastes, needs, and budget. You don’t even need to come collect at the store, it gets mailed to you. There will be better versions of Stitch Fix. Only the best designers will survive the onslaught.
- Art History
Art history is a high niche subject that has already been perceived as being one of those degrees that do not guarantee a well-paying job after graduation. A. I and related technologies only make an already difficult situation worse.
Two researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey developed a system that uses new machine learning techniques to train algorithms to recognize the artist and style of a fine-art accurately while revealing connections between artists and entire painting styles.
Interestingly, 60 percent of the time the artist was identified and the style of the work was also identified 45 percent of the time. While there is still a lot of room for improvement, in the near future art historians will have artificial intelligence to compete with.
- Anthropology
Before the advent of A.I, the jury was out on the study of anthropology because in spite of its allure (you can thank Indiana Jones for that), it never really offered a realistic career path for a majority (at least not without a doctorate). Some folks even say that there is a reason why there are so few archaeologists around; there is no guarantee of a viable career. This is not meant to dim your burning desire. Rather it is a caveat that you need to heed.
The Takeaway
Think about jobs that existed 10 years ago that are no longer relevant today. Also think about jobs that did not exist 10 years ago that do now. The smart thing to do is to make career decisions with the future in mind.
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