At present, it is a critical period for high recruitment and volunteering, and the wind and grass in some industries will inadvertently touch the nerves of candidates and parents.
A few days ago, a well-known law firm issued an employee notice, saying that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has significantly improved the level and quality of machine translation, so it decided to cancel the translation team in the law firm from July 1 this year. As soon as the news came out, "whether the translation profession should be published" aroused heated discussions. In fact, not only translation, with the advent and continuous iteration of ChatGPT, whether a number of "classic majors" including law, art, medicine, finance and even computer science and technology can be reported have been questioned. One voice believes that related industries will be affected to varying degrees, and many jobs will be replaced by AI.
Such a trend analysis can't help but worry candidates and parents: there are all kinds of majors in the application directory, but when they actually fill in, they feel that there are few "good majors". Why is it so difficult to choose a "good major"?!
In an interview with reporters, a number of experts engaged in college admissions reminded that some majors may have "preservation value" in a certain cycle, but it is difficult for anyone to make a conclusion after 5 or even 10 years. In short, the "long red" high-paying profession that crosses the industry cycle does not exist. For candidates, choosing a major for employment seems to be tenable, but it is difficult to catch the pulse in actual operation, and it may even be that the book is abandoned, which leads to putting the cart before the horse.
Under the precise "strike" of AI, a number of classic majors were "sung down"
Under the topic of the abolition of the translation team by a well-known law firm, the views of netizens can be described as polarized.
Some people bluntly said that "the translation position can basically be replaced", and even netizens who claimed to be translation practitioners came forward and said: "Because ChatGPT has improved the efficiency of translation, the urgent manuscripts that I did not dare to accept in the past now feel at ease, and I really don't need so many people." But on the other hand, some netizens sharply pointed out that "such as 'watching people cook' such as 'watching people cook' with emotional characteristics and connotation Chinese meaning, AI is difficult to translate the ideal result", after all, translation has always pursued "faith, attainment, elegance", so "can only understand" realm, only high-quality translators can achieve, their work will not be replaced by machines.
In fact, not only language disciplines have encountered decline, but under the guidance of "predicting the future of majors based on the status quo of occupations", a large number of classic majors in colleges and universities and even the ace majors of the past have been "shot". For example, for economic management majors such as management, economics, and marketing, some people commented, "The financial profession is not in the limelight, and the impact of AI is accurately hitting the export end of the above-mentioned professions." ”
Another organization released a research report that data analysts and market research analysts were rated by interviewed users as one of the 5 professions most likely to be grabbed by ChatGPT. So, is the big data major worth filling in? This question also confused many test takers.
What's more, even some popular majors that have been popular in recent years have also been "dissuaded".
"Code farmers have a 35-year-old age crisis, computer majors, choose carefully!"
"Considering the future demographic trend, the overall demand for teacher training majors will decrease, and preschool education will be carefully selected!"
"In the era of AI, robots will replace doctors, choose carefully!"
……
After a series of "avoiding pits", many people suddenly found that there were many majors that could be filled in the professional catalog, but there were few majors left after the elimination method.
"Sinkhole specialty" everywhere? Professional perception may be biased
In fact, every year during the recruitment season, the debate about "sinkhole major" and "pit avoidance guide" never stops. As time passed, the version of "Sinkhole Professional" circulating on the Internet also changed.
It is not difficult to find that behind the controversy, the core of netizens' attention is still focused on whether this major can cross the cycle and find a good way out after graduation. A number of university professors who are participating in the admissions promotion lamented: "Parents are more picky about majors than expected. However, many people overlook the most crucial point: holding diamonds, why worry about porcelain work? ”
"First of all, how long is the cycle of crossing the industry in parents' cognition?" Professor Cai Fengyan, director of the Marketing Department of Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, does not agree that there is an absolutely good major that crosses the industry cycle. She said that for the development of any discipline and industry, we should not be "myopic" and focus on the short-sightedness. In her view, it is true that the development of AI technology represented by ChatGPT will replace most mechanical and repetitive work, but the value of AI lies more in improving efficiency and assisting humans, which in many ways cannot be compared with human intelligence. Taking GPT3 as an example, it is inferior to humans in causal inference, complex situation processing, and logical ability, and these characteristics happen to be the literacy emphasized by economic management majors.
Taking translation as an example, Wu Yun, Dean of the School of Foreign Chinese of Tongji University, said that with the current level of machine translation, some companies may cut the manpower in foreign translation in order to reduce costs; But in terms of Chinese translation and foreign translation, the accuracy and level of machines are far lower than that of humans. "The translation robot's understanding of a country's political position and cultural background is far from the passing level, and at the ideological and cultural level, manpower cannot be wasted." She believes that the rapid development of AI is also forcing university majors to constantly adjust and upgrade, and achieve talents who can surpass AI in the era of human-machine collaboration. For example, the translation talents trained by colleges and universities are no longer single-language talents who cultivate "battle" machines, but Chinese cultural communication talents who understand culture and have ideas on the basis of using technology.
"Today, AI can already paint, but people will still pay for the artist's paintings; There is also a market for pre-made dishes, but the gourmets are still fascinated by the craftsmanship of the gold medal chef; Medical robots have begun to help patients with examinations and even surgery, but patients are still willing to communicate with human doctors, who prescribe drugs based on analysis indicators. Wang Jian, director of the Basic Education Department of Shanghai Normal University, talked about these examples around him and reminded candidates who are filling in their volunteers: "Excellent professionalism" is always a hard currency in the job market.
In the era of human-machine collaboration, there is no standard answer to professional prospects
A number of scholars who are participating in university admissions publicity said that with the rapid development of science and technology, in the era of human-machine collaboration, there is no standard answer to whether the professional future is good or bad. If you consider it from the perspective of "good employment" alone, the result is likely to disappoint many parents.
What are the most urgent jobs on the market? According to the ranking of the most scarce industries released on the official website of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, there are actually no popular industries such as AI among the top ten most scarce jobs in 2022; On the contrary, salespeople, housekeepers, etc. are on the list. "There is a huge shortage of talent in these professions, but probably few parents are willing to accept their children to work in related jobs after college." Wu Yun further analyzed that at present, there are still some parents wearing "colored glasses" to look at professions and occupations, it must be known that professions and occupations have never been high or low, but only a certain period of time The "preservation value" of some professions is higher, and no one can make a conclusion about the future of a profession. "Unless the entire industry disappears, even the most 'unpopular' profession has its own necessity."
In this year's admissions consultation, Wu Yun met a high-scoring student in the science and chemistry course of the junior high school, hoping to choose the major of literature, history and philosophy. "In the eyes of others and even parents, applying for liberal arts with high scores is overuse and wasteful. However, this student had his own persistence, and he decided to major in literature, history and philosophy, and minor in engineering, striving to become a compound talent through double degree study. In fact, according to Wu Yun's view, such assertive and planned candidates, although they seem to have made alternative choices that are different from ordinary people, but after entering the university, they are often more likely to stand out than candidates who blindly follow the trend when filling out volunteers.
Author: Wu Jinjiao
Editor: Gu Jun