The tech giant responsible for the planet’s leading chatbot has delivered a stark warning that artificial intelligence is coming for workers’ livelihoods.
Bosses at the ChatGPT maker have dropped a devastating new report pinpointing 44 careers facing the threat of AI takeover.
Researchers deployed a specialist test called GDPval to pit cutting-edge technology against flesh-and-blood workers across America’s nine biggest money-spinning sectors. The news emerges as the US Military prepares AI pilot drones capable of devastating attacks on Beijing and Moscow.
The findings spell trouble for those working away in shops and sales positions, reported the Daily Mail.
Human specialists were drafted in to judge whether AI or genuine professionals delivered superior results on workplace assignments.
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.1 system emerged as the champion performer, crushing human rivals in a staggering 47.6 per cent of showdowns on average, with certain professions suffering even more brutal defeats.
The machine demolished counter and rental clerks in a jaw-dropping 81 per cent of face-offs.
ChatGPT’s parent firm declared: “We found that today’s best frontier models are already approaching the quality of work produced by industry experts.”
Nurses and engineers put through demanding tests
Researchers subjected all 44 careers to rigorous examination against AI systems on duties workers typically handle in their daily grind.
Registered nurses found themselves scrutinising skin condition photographs and drafting consultation documents, whilst manufacturing engineers tackled constructing digital three-dimensional cable reel designs.
Assessors remained completely blind to whether humans or robots completed each assignment, simply picking whichever impressed them most.
Scientists crunched the numbers to produce a “win rate” showing how chatbots stack up against real-world professionals.
Tech bosses admit tests don’t tell whole story
The firm conceded the experiment fails to capture everything workers actually do, acknowledging that “most jobs are more than just a collection of tasks that can be written down.”
Yet the Silicon Valley powerhouse insists the findings accurately predict how severely AI will hammer professionals across the economy.
Retail workers face the bleakest outlook, with certain chatbots trouncing shop staff 56 per cent of the time on average.
Wholesale trade employees aren’t far behind, registering a 53 per cent AI victory rate, whilst government positions including compliance officers and social workers clocked 52 per cent defeats.
Film directors and journalists dodge worst of AI threat
The information sector emerged relatively unscathed, encompassing directors, film producers and journalists, where even top-performing systems only prevailed 39 per cent of the time.
But certain careers within those fields crashed far below the average performance.
Hot on the heels of counter and rental clerks, sales managers claimed the runner-up spot for worst results, getting beaten by certain AI systems in a catastrophic 79 per cent of encounters.
Shipping and receiving clerks collapsed against AI 76 per cent of the time, whilst editors watched robot competitors demolish them in 75 per cent of battles.
Even detectives struggling against robot rivals
Careers traditionally requiring human instincts aren’t immune from the AI threat, with private detectives and investigators managing victories in merely 30 per cent of showdowns.
Different chatbot systems delivered wildly varying performances, with certain models excelling at specific assignment types.
Claude’s Opus 4.1 struggled with precision but racked up victories through churning out visually attractive graphics.
The company’s premium GPT5-high system notched an average 48.8 per cent win rate across all professions and dominated in accuracy stakes.
Older AI models humiliated by newer technology
ChatGPT’s GPT-4o system, which launched merely 15 months earlier, managed wins in just 12.4 per cent of tests.
The brutal gap between results exposes how rapidly AI is catching up with human capabilities and the massive impact looming over workforces worldwide.
Company chief Sam Altman has admitted anxieties about job losses triggered by AI technology keep him awake at night.
During an appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show last month, Mr Altman said: “I’m confident that a lot of current customer support that happens over a phone or computer, those people will lose their jobs, and that’ll be better done by an AI.”
Mr Altman has even suggested that up to 40 per cent of all jobs could be automated by AI at some point in the future.
Bosses try softening the blow
Yet the tech giant stopped short of declaring humans will imminently find themselves replaced by AI.
The firm has attempted spinning these findings as demonstrating how AI might “support people in the work they do every day.”
AI win rate against human professionals:
- Counter and rental clerks: 81%
- Sales managers: 79%
- Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks: 76%
- Editors: 75%
- Software developers: 70%
- Private detectives and investigators: 70%
- Compliance officers: 69%
- First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers: 69%
- Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products: 68%
- General operations managers: 67%
- Medical and health services managers: 65%
- Buyers and purchasing agents: 64%
- Personal financial advisers: 64%
- Administrative services managers: 62%
- Customer service representatives: 59%
- First-line supervisors of retail sales workers: 59%
- First-line supervisors of production and operating workers: 58%
- Nurse practitioners: 56%
- Real estate brokers: 54%
- News analysts, reporters, and journalists: 53%
- Computer and information systems managers: 52%
- First-line supervisors of police and detectives: 49%
- Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products: 47%
- Lawyers: 46%
- Project management specialists: 42%
- Child, family, and school social workers: 42%
- Medical secretaries and administrative assistants: 42%
- Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents: 42%
- First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers: 41%
- Financial investment analysts: 41%
- Recreation workers: 37%
- Registered nurses: 37%
- Property, real estate, and community association managers: 34%
- Financial managers: 32%
- Producers and directors: 31%
- Audio and video technicians: 30%
- Concierges: 29%
- Order clerks: 28%
- Real estate sales agents: 27%
- Pharmacists: 26%
- Accountants and auditors: 24%
- Mechanical engineers: 23%
- Industrial engineers: 17%
- Film and video editors: 17%
Source: Open AI, GPDval 2025