Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) have topped a new ranking of jobs most resistant to being replaced by artificial intelligence. The study, carried out by digital agency Eskimoz, found that EMTs scored a perfect 100 in its AI Resistance Score – thanks to the critical public-facing nature of their work and a very low risk of automation.
Three out of the top five most AI-resistant jobs are in healthcare, highlighting the industry’s deep reliance on human touch, empathy, and complex judgement. Healthcare social workers came in second, also requiring 100% public interaction, followed by lawyers in third place. While AI can assist with documents and research, courtroom presence and emotional intelligence are still very much human territory.
Construction supervisors beat out the office crowd
Construction also made a strong showing. First-line supervisors in the trades took fifth place, beating many white-collar jobs. Their roles involve constant real-time decision-making, safety oversight and team leadership—areas where a robot just can’t cut it. Medical and health services managers came fourth, proving that jobs involving lots of coordination and high-pressure decision-making still need a human brain at the helm.
Communication, judgement and people-first skills come out on top
Human resources managers, operations leaders, maintenance workers, and training specialists round out the rest of the top 10. While these jobs span a wide range of industries, they all have one thing in common: high public interaction and decision-making that requires social intelligence.
Why AI can’t take over everything
According to a spokesperson from Eskimoz, “jobs combining high human interaction with complex decision-making create the strongest defence against AI replacement”. They also pointed to the dominance of healthcare roles in the ranking, saying that empathy, ethics and emergency judgement are all factors machines can’t yet replicate.
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Photo credit: Michel E, Unsplash