Humans versus machines: Who will be employed in future

However, it doesn't have to be a situation where it's humans versus machines and there are fewer jobs for people. He said jobs for humans are not necessarily reducing, just changing, and it's more about working together with machines to increase humans' capabilities.

A computer first managed to beat a chess grandmaster in 1997, Dawson said. "That's a long time ago and computers have come a long way since then; yet, the best computers at chess can still be beaten by humans and computers working together. The best chess in the world is played by humans and computers working together," the futurist said.

"Again, doctors together with technology can be better [themselves] -- with the robots, the artificial intelligence."

Dawson said that the days where young people could just pass school to get a low-to-medium-skilled job and live comfortably for the rest of their lives are disappearing. With machines capable of doing many basic to complex tasks, it forces people to gain deeper expertise, become smarter in order to get work.

"Back in the '70s and '80s, when you did a degree you were able to live off the fruits of your labours for quite some time. Today, when you get a degree, it is already out of date. So what does have value is deep, world-class expertise. You can't just be the best in your domain locally; you must be at the right level globally.