The bright sparks whose jobs are safe from artificial intelligence

August 17, 2026 — 5:00am

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The bright sparks who become electricians battle angry dogs, bitter weather and itty-bitty crawling spaces – and that’s before you get to the constant need to guard against electrocution. But there is one threat tradies’ jobs are fairly safe from: artificial intelligence.

As KPMG economist Terry Rawnsley put it: “It’s at far less risk of being disrupted than your traditional white-collar job. The robots can’t get in there and rewire a house just yet.”

As the Herald’s higher education reporter Sally Rawsthorne reports on Sunday, the number of electricians jumped significantly to 184,000 in 2025. It’s a trend that’s been matched in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald