Study Abroad: Not engineering, these are the careers safe from AI

According to a report by IDP Education, the most secure future-proof jobs share one common thread: they require human judgment, empathy, physical presence, or complex decision-making — something that machines cannot replicate.

What does the report say about AI-safe careers?

According to the findings, healthcare and medicine dominate the list of AI-resistant roles worldwide. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, urologists, rehabilitation physicians, and nurse anesthetists are among the most secure careers, with risk-of-automation levels close to zero. These roles may adopt AI-supported tools, but their core responsibilities, diagnosis, emotional support, and human interaction, will continue to require people.

The report also noted that postgraduate education significantly improves job security and salary potential. Many of the highest-scoring AI-safe jobs require advanced qualifications, especially within medicine and nursing. But students who want to start working after a bachelor’s degree also have options: physicists, nurse midwives, physical therapists, and security managers fall in the AI-safe category even without further study.

Another finding is that the fastest-growing AI-safe roles are concentrated in healthcare. Nurse practitioners are projected to grow by 46.3% and physician assistants by 28.5% by 2031, figures far higher than global job-market averages.

Top AI-safe jobs: What stands out?

The report’s consolidated ranking shows the best overall AI-safe jobs based on salary, projected growth, automation risk, and degree costs. Physician assistants, physicists, dentists, nurse midwives, and physical therapists score particularly well for students who prefer undergraduate-only routes. Salaries range from $99,000 to over $166,000 in the US, while maintaining near-zero automation risk.

In roles requiring postgraduate study, job security remains even higher. Fields like urology, neurology, psychiatry, immunology, rehabilitation medicine, and nurse anesthesia offer median salaries above USD 200,000, reflecting the demand for specialised medical professionals. 

Although PG study costs are higher, often above USD 40,000 per year, the long-term returns remain strong.

If you don’t want engineering, what should you study instead?

Firstly, degrees that rely on ‘real human care’: Healthcare, nursing, midwifery, and rehabilitation sciences consistently emerge as the least automatable fields. These careers need face-to-face interaction, patient handling, critical thinking, and emotional judgement, areas where AI has limited reach.

Second, degrees rooted in human-centred skills: The report highlights social work, education, occupational therapy, paramedical sciences, and mental health counselling as highly resilient. These sectors depend heavily on interpersonal skills, contextual decision-making, and community engagement.

Lastly, Science and safety-oriented bachelor’s degrees: Physics, occupational therapy, security management, and construction management offer stable, AI-resistant career paths even without graduate study. Their automation risks remain below 34%, combined with strong global demand.

Which have ranked highest in AI-risk?

According to the report, roles in accounting, clerical support, and data-processing face some of the highest automation risks. These jobs involve repetitive processes that AI can easily replicate. Students choosing these fields are encouraged to build additional skills, creative, interpersonal, analytical, to remain competitive.

With immigration norms tightening and job markets becoming more selective, graduates will increasingly need degrees that offer both mobility and protection from technological disruption. AI-safe fields provide better chances of finding employment abroad, securing work visas, and meeting occupational-shortage lists used by countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK.

The report makes one thing clear: while popular choices such as engineering and IT remain valuable, the safest degrees, the ones least likely to be replaced or transformed by AI, sit firmly in healthcare, medicine, education, and human-centred sciences.