Even the plumber or electrician, those blue-collar careers recently advertised as AI-proof, aren’t found to be so in Cognizant’s analysis. “Nobody’s safe,” O’Donoghue said.
“You’ll still need someone to turn the wrench, no doubt, but the actual process of plumbing and the value that’s added will change a little bit,” O’Donoghue added. “One of the things is the massive integration of AI into manual work—and as we start exploring things like physical AI, it makes things even more comp
The plumber remains a useful example of why even careers considered “AI-proof” may not be immune. The physical work itself may remain human, but many surrounding tasks could increasingly be automated or AI-assisted.
“However, a multimodal reasoning agent today could notice a damp patch on a wall, infer a leaking joint, draft a repair plan and even generate an invoice or parts list,” the report stated. “The plumber still fixes the pipe, but the inspection, diagnosis and supportive actions that lead up to or follow it can increasingly be assisted by AI.”
Warikoo argued that artificial intelligence is more likely to reshape work than eliminate it altogether—creating entirely new opportunities in the process.
The pace of those new opportunities may not come as quickly as some workers hope. But, Warikoo argued, job creation will stem from people and businesses learning how to adapt to technological change and reimagine how work gets done.
“The 80% left comes from the misprocessed reimagination and the change management that’s needed for an enterprise to truly adopt the technology. This is a big change. It’s an operating model change.”
In other words, AI is not just changing what people do at work—it’s reshaping how organizations function, how employees collaborate, and how businesses are built.
