A 2014 Pew Research Center study asked nearly 2,000 experts about how technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) would affect jobs. About half said a significant number of jobs, both blue- and white-collar, would be gone, potentially resulting in massive unemployment, income inequality and a complete breakdown of social order. While we're used to factory jobs being lost, the rise of AI will be vastly more far-reaching. In "18 Jobs That Are Most Likely to Be Killed off by Computers," we listed jobs in jeopardy, ranging from equipment operators to physicists. Computers equipped with AI are now even writing articles, so journalism jobs could also one day follow dial phones and camcorders into history.

The Pew Research Center wanted to gauge Americans' sentiments on robots and computers getting good enough to assume human tasks. Respondents in a national survey of 4,135 adults this May reported feeling far more worried than enthused about robots and computers performing jobs like driving cars, screening employees or taking care of the elderly. Doubters outnumbered optimists 72% to 33%. On specific tasks, the survey found the most opposition (67%) when it comes to jobs demanding judgement, such as evaluating job candidates. The sentiment was more evenly split on driverless cars and elder care, despite evidence showing computers are less error-prone than humans when it comes to driving cars (and planes, trains and other vehicles).