When I was a kid I waited each day for my father to come home from working in the mines.

Then I did “my job” - pulling off the mining boots my father wore. He was so tired at the end of the day that he barely had the energy to pull off his boots.

Even at an early age I knew the hard labor and what it took for a man to put himself at risk working in the mines.

I knew every mine was deep, dark and dangerous, especially the small independent mines, better known as a coal hole.

My dad knew about that danger first hand.

Years before when he was a young boy working at the family’s bootleg mine it started filling with water.

His brother Chick sent my dad up to the surface to bring down another pump.

While he was gone there was an big explosion and Chick burned to death.

My dad said no matter how long it’s been since it happened he still can’t erase the screams of his bother burning to death.

When I asked why he still worked there he said he said he to. He would do anything to feed his family.

That was true of many Anthracite miners. I believe Anthracite miners were all men of valor to do what it took to support their families.

For the most part, those Anthracite mines have disappeared.

Disappearing jobs will always be part of society.

My husband’s Uncle Andrew once worked making barrels for F&S brewery. Jobs like that which once required manpower are now automated. That’s why we don’t have factories filled with many workers. Some machines and a few workers can do it all.

Over the years I’ve watched newspapers change in many ways. At first, we didn’t see what a sea change was happening right before our eyes.

I can’t help but think about future changes.

When I first worked for a newspaper we reporters had to pound a manual typewriter, writing our stories on copy paper. “Pound” was the accurate word.

There was no such thing as the feather touch we now employ with our gadgets.

Those big chunky typewriters were replaced first by electric typewriters then by computers with something called spellcheck.

Newspapers no longer had to employ proofreaders who sat there all day reading every line of copy.

When the newspaper needed someone to work the scan-a-graver while our photographer was on medical leave, I volunteered to learn the job.

I figured the more skills I had the safer my job would be.

Ha! Technology quickly eliminated that need. When it first became possible to take photos with a digital camera at a sporting event in another state, I was stunned with the technology that could have the photos at the newspaper and placed in the paper before the photographer left the building.

While I knew technology was changing newspaper production and eliminating jobs at a dizzying speed, I thought the one thing that couldn’t be replaced were writers.

I believed someone would always be needed to write the stories. I still want to believe that but something called artificial intelligence, or AI, might change that. And the change is coming a lot sooner than we think.

When my daughters first told me artificial intelligence could write a story on any subject with no human input, I didn’t believe it.

I thought someone had to gather the facts then write the story in a compelling way. That would take a human brain, right?

My comfort level disappeared when I saw examples of writing, all done by artificial intelligence with no human input.

While I thought the writing was a bit stilted, all the facts were there.

My daughter worries that her job as a writer and editor will disappear with all the AI advances.

While I say, “No, that can’t happen,” barrel makers and telephone operators might have once believed that.

The scary thing is that a University of Oxford study found that 45 percent of US jobs could be eliminated by artificial intelligence in the next 20 years.

Other studies claim it’s way more than that. One major study said AI could impact 300 million full time positions, with many of them being in what is considered white collar job.

It will have the same impact as automation had on jobs, according to several business sources. Some say they are already cutting back.

What surprised me most by all that is the jobs that are in most demand today are predicted to suffer the biggest fallout.

Coders are so much in demand now that companies are heavily recruiting new employees, with some offering to train potential employees.

The coding career now looks golden.

Yet, according to AI experts, many coders will face unemployment as artificial intelligence is able to adequately fill many coding positions.

Other jobs that could face AI filling more positions instead of humans include financial jobs, graphic designers, legal assistants, and most of all customer service jobs.

We are already seeing how hard it is to get what I call “a real human” to answer our customer service inquiries.

They say changes are inevitable and AI will play a major role, both good and bad.

What present jobs do you think are most in danger of disappearing?

Which ones should be safe?

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net