Until superhuman swimming robots take his job, Luke Gnocco remains pretty relaxed about artificial intelligence (AI).
"Electronics and water usually don't work," he points out.
Mr Gnocco's marine tourism business in north Queensland takes people on snorkelling tours on the Great Barrier Reef, jet ski tours and guided walks around Magnetic Island.
He said hands-on, manual and interpersonal interactions were core aspects of the job.
"With a reef tour guide, there's literally no part in the process that could be replaced by AI.
"Especially being Australia, a lot of our tourism and a lot of our products are the country, they are the reef, they are the water, and I don't think it's ever going to go backwards."
While he is confident the tourism industry will weather any AI boom, recent research by public policy consultancy firm SGS Economics and Planning found about 30 per cent of work tasks across regional Queensland could be exposed to AI automation.
Principal and partner Alison Holloway said regional locations were more resilient to change from AI.
"A lot of the knowledge jobs and professional services jobs are located in the city centres … and they're the jobs that are most exposed to AI automation," Ms Holloway said.
The report found almost 40 per cent of work tasks in Brisbane were at risk of…
