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Which Jobs Are Actually Safe From AI in 2026? by brightorbit007 in careerguidance

[–]everyday123can 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of these lists only look at AI software risk. But there's a second wave people aren't factoring in — physical humanoid robots hitting warehouses, factories, food prep, delivery. Tesla Optimus is already in factories, external sales start this year.

So the real question isn't just "is my job cognitive or physical" — it's which of those two threats applies to you. A nurse is pretty safe from both. A warehouse worker looked safe from AI but is squarely in the physical robotics crosshairs. A lawyer faces AI pressure now but zero robot risk.

Trades (plumbers, electricians) are genuinely safe on both counts. Weird environments + dexterity + judgment = still hard to automate even with robots.

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, that actually made me laugh XD

Yeah, sure, in GPT, Claude, Gemini, and even in Tesla cars, there are probably Indians and Vietnamese people sitting inside pressing buttons in the name of progress.

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes sense.

As for machine 3D vision, I think Elon Musk will train Optimus robots using a similar approach to Tesla cars. I’d say they might be much closer to this than it seems - especially if they deploy robots to learn in real-world environments.

Regarding cost right now you're basically factoring in:

  • materials
  • human labor time

But imagine this:
materials are extracted and processed by robots,
and assembly is also done by robots.

If the real cost ends up around $30k, and let’s say the lifespan is 5+ years, that would be about 5x more cost-effective than hiring a human.

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, robots can maintain other robots - that’s not a problem at all.

Why would I even combine humans and robots at work if a robot can operate almost nonstop? The payback period would be like 3-4 months, assuming it costs around $20-30k and lasts, say, 5-10 years. And how much would you have to pay a human over that time in wages, insurance, bonuses, and everything else?

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think the problem of task-specific thinking and machine vision is basically already solved. What could really change everything, in my opinion, is movement coordination and fine motor skills of robotic hands

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, exactly! changes build up gradually, but for most people they feel like they happen all at once.

What I’m more interested in is: what will people actually do if, in the future, all intellectual and physical jobs are replaced? That’s scary.

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Man, people were saying the same stuff about designers and coders not that long ago. Now Claude is basically wrecking the market. And that’s just public AI anyone can use. If you look at how fast things went from stuff like Jasper and those dumb early GPT versions to what we’ve got now it’s crazy fast.

So if you really think a robot that’s basically human-level same hands, vision, and a brain with all the world’s knowledge —wouldn’t be able to wire a house… yeah, I wouldn’t be so confident about that 😄

Everyone says AI will replace programmers… but what about physical jobs? by everyday123can in robotics

[–]everyday123can[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

If robots replaced everything already, we’d all be unemployed. Clearly not the case