Robot Redlines: Illinoisans Say Local Doctors Should Never Be Replaced by AI (Survey).

• 4,102 respondents surveyed on which jobs they never want replaced by AI.
• Doctors/surgeons followed by teachers + judges. 
• Infographic.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace, Illinoisans are drawing their own moral boundary lines – and they’re much firmer than the ones in the boardroom.

A national survey of 4,012 respondents from Trio.dev, specialists in global software team building, reveals that 92% of Illinoisans believe some jobs should always remain human-led, no matter how advanced AI becomes. At the top of the list? Doctors and surgeons, followed closely by teachers and judges – professions where empathy, instinct, and accountability can’t easily be written into code.

Illinois’ top 5 careers that should never be replace by AI:

#1 Doctors/Surgeons
#2 Teachers
#3 Judges
#4 Social Workers
#5 Police Officers

Even as AI tools promise greater efficiency, public trust hasn’t kept pace. Three-quarters (75%) of respondents say they trust a human professional more than an AI system with sensitive data, and an equal share believes AI will make society riskier, not fairer. Asked which qualities AI will never replicate, Illinoisans pointed to empathy (39%), common sense (22%), and ethical judgment (17%) – the very traits that often define humanity at its best.

And while most people use AI casually – from autocomplete to customer support – they’re uneasy about surrendering real responsibility. Just 35% said they’d be comfortable letting AI manage emergency 911 calls, and the average comfort rating for AI making major life decisions came in at a wary 4 out of 10.

People, it seems, want technology to assist – not replace. Sixty-five percent said that even if AI could do a job more accurately, they would still prefer a human being to do it.

From Boardrooms to Break Rooms
Illinoisans might want essential workers to stay human – but inside the boardroom, that compassion doesn’t always carry over. For many managers, the question isn’t should AI replace people, but when…

Trio.dev also surveyed Illinois managers, with almost 1-in-5 admitting they would replace employees with AI without hesitation. For employees, that gap between everyday caution and executive calculus is precisely where anxiety about automation takes root.

Infographic showing the % of managers in each state eager to replace human workers with AI

“Americans are saying something simple but powerful,” says Alex Kugell, Co-founder & CTO of Trio.dev. “They don’t reject technology – they just want to keep people at the center of it. Managers may see numbers on a spreadsheet; workers see what’s at stake when empathy disappears.”