AI exposure: File Clerks
File correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Locate and remove material from file when requested.
Reading this score
computed55.4% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts File Clerks at the 93th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.9 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
No single friction dominates this occupation. The strongest is context at 1.31 out of 3 and the weakest is presence at 0.08, which is a narrow spread. Where nothing structural stands in the way, exposure tracks capability almost directly, and capability is the thing that changes every quarter.
The most exposed thing this job does is Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver..., at 86.7%. The least is Place materials into storage receptacles, at 0.0%. A gap of 86.7% 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 office and administrative support occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 51 roles in the group is 55.1%, and only 25 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 19 tasks, 14 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 5 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take capability alone, since there is little structural friction here to slow adoption once a system can do the work. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
19 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.14 | exposed |
| Input data, such as file numbers, new or updated information, or document information codes into computer systems to support document and information retrieval. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.34 | exposed |
| Answer questions about records or files. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.97 | exposed |
| Track materials removed from files to ensure that borrowed files are returned. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Perform periodic inspections of materials or files to ensure correct placement, legibility, or proper condition. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.18 | exposed |
| Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Modify or improve filing systems or implement new filing systems. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.33 | exposed |
| Design forms related to filing systems. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.55 | exposed |
| Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.36 | exposed |
| Complete general financial activities, such as processing accounts payable, reviewing invoices, collecting cash payments, or issuing receipts. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.17 | exposed |
| Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.99 | exposed |
| Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials. | 41.1% | 8.9% | 50.0% | 4.41 | exposed |
| Retrieve documents stored in microfilm or microfiche and place them in viewers for reading. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 3.61 | untouched |
| Operate mechanized files that rotate to bring needed records to a particular location. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 3.57 | untouched |
| Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guidelines or legal requirements. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 3.99 | untouched |
| Assign and record or stamp identification numbers or codes to index materials for filing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.92 | untouched |
| Place materials into storage receptacles, such as file cabinets, boxes, bins, or drawers, according to classification and identification information. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.89 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
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 | 2.89 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.07 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.08 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.68 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.31 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.63 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
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.