Doctors, Plumbers, and Comedians: The Human Jobs AI Won't Replace
Andrew Mueller, Monocle contributing editor, argues that AI will not eliminate ten professions: doctors, hospitality workers, plumbers, gardeners, air-traffic controllers, pilots, police officers, politicians, athletes, journalists, and comedians. He points to an AI-powered robot developed by the University of California that held its own in a 2023 vegetable-growing trial, and notes that the first World Humanoid Robot Games occurred in Beijing in 2025. Albania has introduced an AI cabinet minister, Diella, but Mueller insists voters still want human leaders. For comedy, he cites Henri Bergson's 1900 essay, saying humor is strictly human. Journalists, he claims, remain valuable because AI-generated stories rely on human-gathered facts. Plumbers, he jokes, face threats only from financial advisers retraining and cashless payment.
Key facts
- Andrew Mueller is a Monocle contributing editor and host of The Monocle Daily and The Foreign Desk.
- The article lists ten jobs that will survive AI: doctors, nurses, and paramedics; hospitality workers; plumbers; gardeners; air-traffic controllers and pilots; police officers; politicians; athletes; journalists; and comedians.
- In 2023, an AI-powered robot from the University of California competed against six human horticulturalists in a vegetable-growing trial.
- The first World Humanoid Robot Games took place in Beijing in 2025.
- Albania has an AI cabinet minister named Diella, who appears as a woman in traditional costume.
- Henri Bergson wrote in 1900 that 'the comic does not exist outside the pale of what is strictly human.'
- Embraer has floated a concept for a fully autonomous business jet.
- The article suggests AI-generated journalism relies on human-gathered facts, illustrating the GIGO principle.
Entities
Artists
- Andrew Mueller
- Henri Bergson
Institutions
- Monocle
- University of California
- Embraer
- Chelsea Flower Show
- World Humanoid Robot Games
- ChatGPT
- Nobel Prize
- Formula 1
- Olympic Games
- World Cup
Locations
- Albania
- Beijing
- California
- China
- London
- United Kingdom
- United States
Sources
- Monocle —