Jobs Most at Risk From AI
We analysed thousands of AI tools alongside US employment data to reveal which occupations face the greatest exposure to AI automation.
Last updated: September 09, 2026
Jobs Most at Risk from AI
25 exact occupations ranked by how much of their core work the AI products we track can already perform â combined with BLS employment, salary, and 2024–34 outlook data.
| Rank | Job | AI exposure | US workers | Median salary | BLS 2034 outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |
Customer Service Representatives
Customer Service
|
92/100
|
2,814,000 | $46,590 | -5.5% |
| #2 |
Data Entry Keyers
Administrative & Clerical
|
90/100
|
141,600 | $43,310 | -25.9% |
| #3 |
Telemarketers
Sales
|
88/100
|
67,400 | $37,370 | -22.1% |
| #4 |
Bookkeeping & Auditing Clerks
Finance & Accounting
|
86/100
|
1,613,400 | $53,560 | -5.8% |
| #5 |
Procurement Clerks
Business Operations
|
85/100
|
61,900 | $52,370 | -8.7% |
| #6 |
Legal Secretaries
Legal
|
84/100
|
156,300 | $60,620 | -5.8% |
| #7 |
Claims Adjusters & Examiners
Business Operations
|
83/100
|
365,300 | $80,470 | -5.2% |
| #8 |
Proofreaders & Copy Markers
Content & Writing
|
83/100
|
12,000 | $54,800 | -0.6% |
| #9 |
Technical Writers
Content & Writing
|
82/100
|
56,400 | $96,970 | +0.9% |
| #10 |
Interpreters & Translators
Content & Writing
|
81/100
|
75,300 | $66,360 | +1.7% |
| #11 |
Paralegals & Legal Assistants
Legal
|
80/100
|
376,200 | $69,700 | +0.2% |
| #12 |
Market Research Analysts
Marketing
|
79/100
|
941,700 | $89,490 | +6.7% |
| #13 |
Writers & Authors
Content & Writing
|
78/100
|
135,400 | $86,090 | +3.6% |
| #14 |
Editors
Content & Writing
|
77/100
|
115,800 | $90,060 | +0.6% |
| #15 |
Graphic Designers
Design & Creative
|
76/100
|
265,900 | $70,560 | +2.1% |
| #16 |
Computer Programmers
Software Development
|
75/100
|
121,200 | $105,170 | -5.9% |
| #17 |
Tax Preparers
Finance & Accounting
|
75/100
|
90,600 | $60,930 | +4.5% |
| #18 |
Advertising Sales Agents
Sales
|
74/100
|
103,700 | $80,670 | -6.4% |
| #19 |
Administrative Assistants
Administrative & Clerical
|
74/100
|
1,944,000 | $49,350 | -1.6% |
| #20 |
Insurance Underwriters
Business Operations
|
72/100
|
127,000 | $93,700 | -2.6% |
| #21 |
Accountants & Auditors
Finance & Accounting
|
72/100
|
1,579,800 | $94,750 | +4.6% |
| #22 |
Credit Analysts
Finance & Accounting
|
71/100
|
67,800 | $100,850 | -4.4% |
| #23 |
HR Specialists
HR & Recruitment
|
70/100
|
944,300 | $81,990 | +6.2% |
| #24 |
Software Developers
Software Development
|
68/100
|
1,693,800 | $148,100 | +15.8% |
| #25 |
Data Scientists
Research & Data Analysis
|
66/100
|
245,900 | $126,800 | +33.6% |
Key takeaways
Facts you can quote. Click any card to copy it â or share it straight to X.
“No job function has a bigger AI target on its back than Business Operations: 1,201 tools â 33.2% of every AI product we track â are built to do its work.”
“The AI gold rush is remarkably narrow: 60.5% of all AI tools chase just three job functions â Business Operations, Marketing, Content & Writing.”
“Pound for pound, nobody is more outnumbered than Research & Data Analysis: 381.5 AI tools for every 100,000 US workers in the field.”
“AI tools are now aimed at job functions worth $3.0 trillion a year in US payroll â the biggest prize in software history, even if exposure isn't the same as job losses.”
“Every one of America's 2,858,710 customer service workers (median salary $39,680) now competes with 768 AI products built to answer the phone for them.”
“If you want to hide from AI, work in Healthcare: just 1.3 tools per 100,000 workers â 293x fewer than Research & Data Analysis.”
Where AI tools concentrate
Share of tool-to-job mappings held by each of the top functions.
Tools vs. workforce size
Each bubble is a job function â up and to the left means lots of AI tools chasing relatively few workers.
Jobs most targeted by AI tools
Job functions ranked by the number of AI tools mapped to them.
AI Exposure vs Job Outlook
Each bubble is an occupation â sized by US workers. Left of the line, BLS already projects the job to shrink by 2034; higher up, more of its work can be done by the AI tools we track. The top-left quadrant is where both signals point the same way.
Jobs Most Targeted by AI â full ranking
A tool can count toward more than one job function where its categories span several.
| Rank | Job function | AI tools | % of all tools | US workers | Median salary | Tools per 100k workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Business Operations | 1,201 | 33.2% | 9,800,000 | $79,050 | 12.3 |
| #2 | Marketing | 929 | 25.7% | 846,370 | $74,680 | 109.8 |
| #3 | Content & Writing | 829 | 22.9% | 250,000 | $74,000 | 331.6 |
| #4 | Productivity & Office Work | 820 | 22.7% | â | â | â |
| #5 | Research & Data Analysis | 774 | 21.4% | 202,900 | $108,020 | 381.5 |
| #6 | Customer Service | 768 | 21.3% | 2,858,710 | $39,680 | 26.9 |
| #7 | Administrative & Clerical | 670 | 18.5% | 3,200,000 | $46,010 | 20.9 |
| #8 | Software Development | 593 | 16.4% | 1,656,880 | $133,080 | 35.8 |
| #9 | Design & Creative | 586 | 16.2% | 212,720 | $58,910 | 275.5 |
| #10 | IT Operations & Security | 331 | 9.2% | 180,700 | $120,360 | 183.2 |
| #11 | Sales | 202 | 5.6% | 1,469,900 | $73,080 | 13.7 |
| #12 | Education | 201 | 5.6% | 8,800,000 | $57,500 | 2.3 |
| #13 | Finance & Accounting | 143 | 4.0% | 1,435,770 | $79,880 | 10.0 |
| #14 | Healthcare | 114 | 3.2% | 9,000,000 | $80,820 | 1.3 |
| #15 | HR & Recruitment | 31 | 0.9% | 786,900 | $67,650 | 3.9 |
| #16 | Legal | 28 | 0.8% | 1,340,000 | $99,220 | 2.1 |
Jobs most disproportionately targeted by AI
AI tools per 100,000 US workers â small professions attracting outsized AI competition rise to the top.
Annual payroll in AI-targeted job functions
Estimated annual US payroll (workers à median salary) for each targeted job function.
Methodology
- All 3,614 AgentLocker listings are grouped using their existing directory categories.
- Categories are manually mapped to 16 broad job functions (e.g. "code assistants" â Software Development). The mapping is maintained by AgentLocker and refined over time.
- A tool may appear in more than one job function where its categories span several types of work.
- Employment and salary figures are broad approximations from public US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data, matched to the closest representative occupation group for each job function. The exact BLS series used for every row is listed below.
- The index measures how heavily AI products target a type of work. It does not measure the likelihood that those jobs will disappear.
BLS data sources by job function
Cite this research: AgentLocker AI Jobs Automation Index, September 2026 â with a link to this page. Contact us for questions or the underlying data.