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According to a recent report from the Brookings Institution, thepeople most in danger of losing their jobs to artificialintelligence are those with the most to offer—higher education—andthe most to lose—higher pay.

The study takes a different tack from others that have tried tomeasure AI's effects on the economy – including earlierstudies from Brookings. It uses a process developed by StanfordUniversity researcher and Ph.D. candidate Michael Webb,that analyzes, as Webb puts it, "the overlap between thetext of job task descriptions and the text of patents to constructa measure of the exposure of tasks to automation." (See "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Labormarket.")

By analyzing different occupations' levels of exposure to AIabilities that are soon to come, a prediction can be made about anoccupation's potential for being overtaken by AI.

The findings are undoubtedly worrisome for those in the higherechelons of the employment market: AI can take on tasks thatrequire "planning, learning, reasoning, problem-solving,perception, or prediction."

And right in the crosshairs: financial industry positions,potentially, among others.

Of course, AI applications are already at play in the financialindustry, notes TechHQ. They include ones that help with suchthings as customer relationship management, automating tedious ortime-consuming processes, assessing risk, and client-advisormatching.

TechHQ  cites a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) andCambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), thatindicates the financial industry is ahead of otherindustries in its adoption of AI, calling the industry the posterchild for an "arms race" to adopt AI.

The WEF/CCAF report found that what it calls "incumbentfinancial institutions" expect AI will replace 9% of their jobs,while fintech companies expect AI to expand theirworkforce by 19%.

There are other unsettling predictions aboutpositions threatened by AI. For example, complianceofficers might be at risk, according to FinancierWorldwide's March cover story, which looks at ways inwhich AI can/will be woven into financial compliance by financialinstitutions.

According to the Brookings study, nearly every occupationalgroup, financial or otherwise, could be affected by AI. While that doesn't necessarily mean AI will result in thereplacement of humans resulting in job loss, it does mean that theconfiguration of their work will likely change — perhaps beyondrecognition compared to current parameters.

And since the report predicts that such change will hit thosewith higher educations/higher pay the hardest—although those withthe most education, such as specialized degrees, and the highestpositions, such as CEOs, are somewhat insulated—advisors will needto stay on their toes.

That's in part because they're fourth from the top of thevulnerable end of the spectrum.  Brookings ranks positionsat risk to AI as market research analysts (with a higher score ofvulnerability at 3.03), sales managers (2.77), computer programmers(1.96) and personal financial advisors (1.33) .

For comparison, those positions it assesses as less at riskinclude registered nurses (0.44), plumbers (0.22), human resourcesspecialists (0.21) and mechanics (0.05).

And another insight Brookings finds: "AI looks mostdestined to affect men, prime-age workers, and white and AsianAmerican workers," since men "work in occupations with much higherAI exposure scores than women," and prime-age workers—those betweenthe ages of 25–54—" are employed in occupations that are going tobe disproportionally involved with AI."

The "heavy involvement" of women "in 'interpersonal' education,health care support, and personal care services appears to shelterthem," the report adds.