There have been few forces as controversial as AI. It has undeniably helped to make some resources accessible, practical, and useful. It also manages to remove the monotony a lot of humans have to work through in countless processes. Yet the fears around AI taking artists and industry jobs alike are certainly valid. So what’s the reality of this situation?

First and foremost, AI is displacing jobs, a predicted 85 million in the next two years, to be exact. Yet interestingly, it’s predicted to bring back 97 million new roles in that same timeframe. How is this possible? It all has to do with what jobs AI is displacing and creating.

AI’s top uses today are in service optimization, novel products, and customer analytics and segmentation. In other words, AI is replacing a lot of busy work that skilled programmers and developers are doing. While uses of AI in the field of art and other controversial settings are interesting, they’re not actually relevant today. Instead AI is combing through data and filling in rigid and simple roles.

Where do these people go then? Well the top jobs AI creates are data scientists, developers, and research scientists. AI working to optimize industries and create detailed analytics still needs human digestion and input. Developers work to ensure the AI is doing what it needs to while data scientists analyze its output. Not all jobs AI will displace are easily replaced, but ultimately it’s a give and take.