AI exposure: Receptionists and Information Clerks
Answer inquiries and provide information to the general public, customers, visitors, and other interested parties regarding activities conducted at establishment and location of departments, offices, and employees within the organization.
Reading this score
computed56.4% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Receptionists and Information Clerks at the 93th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 3.1 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 1.19 out of 3 and the weakest is presence at 0.44, 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 Schedule appointments and maintain and update appointment calendars, at 93.3%. The least is Perform duties, at 0.0%. A gap of 93.3% 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 54.6%, and only 24 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 18 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 3 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
18 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule appointments and maintain and update appointment calendars. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.40 | exposed |
| Enroll individuals to participate in programs and notify them of their acceptance. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.22 | exposed |
| Operate telephone switchboard to answer, screen, or forward calls, providing information, taking messages, or scheduling appointments. | 90.0% | 10.0% | 0.0% | 4.74 | exposed |
| Process and prepare memos, correspondence, travel vouchers, or other documents. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.43 | exposed |
| Provide information about establishment, such as location of departments or offices, employees within the organization, or services provided. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.02 | exposed |
| Analyze data to determine answers to questions from customers or members of the public. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Schedule space or equipment for special programs and prepare lists of participants. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.55 | exposed |
| Calculate and quote rates for tours, stocks, insurance policies, or other products or services. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Take orders for merchandise or materials and send them to the proper departments to be filled. | 70.0% | 17.5% | 12.5% | 3.18 | exposed |
| Keep a current record of staff members' whereabouts and availability. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 3.90 | exposed |
| Transmit information or documents to customers, using computer, mail, or facsimile machine. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 4.12 | exposed |
| Perform administrative support tasks, such as proofreading, transcribing handwritten information, or operating calculators or computers to work with pay records, invoices, balance sheets, or other documents. | 57.5% | 17.5% | 25.0% | 3.97 | exposed |
| File and maintain records. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.09 | exposed |
| Hear and resolve complaints from customers or the public. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Receive payment and record receipts for services. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.64 | exposed |
| Greet persons entering establishment, determine nature and purpose of visit, and direct or escort them to specific destinations. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.69 | untouched |
| Collect, sort, distribute, or prepare mail, messages, or courier deliveries. | 9.2% | 3.3% | 87.5% | 3.91 | untouched |
| Perform duties, such as taking care of plants or straightening magazines to maintain lobby or reception area. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.39 | 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 | 3.06 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.86 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.44 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.53 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.19 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.47 | 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.