AI is getting smarter almost every month, but so are concerns about what it means for workers.
A Sept. 17 Pew Research Center surveyfound that people in 34 of 37 countries were more likely to expect AI to reduce jobs over the next two decades than create them.
Concern was particularly high in Australia and South Korea, where 76% expected job losses, and in the United States at 71%.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates offered a similar warning on Aug. 26, writing that AI could rapidly affect law, customer service, medicine, software and manufacturing. He said the shift could happen within a decade and warned that without the right policies, there could be far fewer jobs than today.
But Alex Svanevik, co-founder and CEO of blockchain analytics firm Nansen, believes some work remains far harder to automate.
AI may replace tasks but not human presence
Speaking on The Sujal Show podcast publishedSept. 19, Svanevik pointed to healthcare and caregiving roles where physical presence remains central.
A nurse can use AI for many tasks, he said, but the job is still fundamentally embodied.
“You have to be present, you have to be in the room with the patient.”
He made a similar argument for physiotherapists, caretakers and massage therapists. AI can assist with diagnosis, planning or instructions, but it cannot easily reproduce physical interaction and trust.
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Education could follow a similar path. Svanevik expects personalized AI tutors to become widespread quickly, but said children will still need human supervisors and mentors.
Rather than eliminating teachers, he argued that AI could change their role and potentially increase demand for more individualized human guidance. He suggested a model with roughly one mentor for every five students, instead of one teacher addressing a class of 25.
Healthcare and education are not the only examples. Svanevik said live entertainment could also remain resilient, including theater, concerts and sports.
“I don’t think we’re gonna see like robot opera singers become very popular.”
He said robotic performers may create new forms of entertainment, but are more likely to be additive than replace human performers.
This story was originally published byTheStreeton Sep 23, 2026, where it first appeared in theMARKETSsection. Add TheStreet as aPreferred
