AI exposure: Coroners
Direct activities such as autopsies, pathological and toxicological analyses, and inquests relating to the investigation of deaths occurring within a legal jurisdiction to determine cause of death or to fix responsibility for accidental, violent, or unexplained deaths.
Reading this score
computedAt 24.9% of weighted task load, Coroners sits at the 46th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 53.6% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 2.30 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Provide information concerning the circumstances of death to relatives of the deceased, at 66.7%. The least is Collect wills, burial instructions, and other documentation needed for investigations and for..., at 0.0%. A gap of 66.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within business and financial operations occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 47.5% across the group's 48 roles, with 46 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 10 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.88 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.02 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.73 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.80 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.15 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.30 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provide information concerning the circumstances of death to relatives of the deceased. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.85 | exposed |
| Arrange for the next of kin to be notified of deaths. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.75 | exposed |
| Remove or supervise removal of bodies from death scenes, using the proper equipment and supplies, and arrange for transportation to morgues. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.85 | exposed |
| Complete death certificates, including the assignment of cause and manner of death. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 5.00 | exposed |
| Complete reports and forms required to finalize cases. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.80 | exposed |
| Locate and document information regarding the next of kin, including their relationship to the deceased and the status of notification attempts. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.74 | exposed |
| Inventory personal effects recovered from bodies, such as jewelry or wallets. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.70 | exposed |
| Witness and certify deaths that are the result of a judicial order. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.31 | exposed |
| Record the disposition of minor children, as well as details of arrangements made for their care. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.60 | exposed |
| Coordinate the release of personal effects to authorized persons and facilitate the disposition of unclaimed corpses and personal effects. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.63 | exposed |
| Direct activities of workers conducting autopsies, performing pathological and toxicological analyses, and preparing documents for permanent records. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.67 | untouched |
| Observe and record the positions and conditions of bodies and related evidence. | 12.5% | 25.0% | 62.5% | 4.90 | untouched |
| Observe, record, and preserve any objects or personal property related to deaths, including objects such as medication containers and suicide notes. | 12.5% | 25.0% | 62.5% | 4.80 | untouched |
| Collect and document any pertinent medical history information. | 12.5% | 25.0% | 62.5% | 4.74 | untouched |
| Confer with officials of public health and law enforcement agencies to coordinate interdepartmental activities. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Perform medicolegal examinations and autopsies, conducting preliminary examinations of the body to identify victims, locate signs of trauma, and identify factors that would indicate time of death. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 5.00 | untouched |
| Interview persons present at death scenes to obtain information useful in determining the manner of death. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 5.00 | untouched |
| Inquire into the cause, manner, and circumstances of human deaths and establish the identities of deceased persons. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.84 | untouched |
| Testify at inquests, hearings, and court trials. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Collect wills, burial instructions, and other documentation needed for investigations and for handling of the remains. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.47 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.