AI exposure: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
Operate telephone business systems equipment or switchboards to relay incoming, outgoing, and interoffice calls. May supply information to callers and record messages.
Reading this score
computed51.2% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service at the 89th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.8 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 embodiment at 1.18 out of 3 and the weakest is accountability at 0.68, 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 Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking..., at 86.7%. The least is Contact security staff members when necessary, at 10.0%. A gap of 76.7% 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 less exposed than the median of 55.9% across the group's 51 roles, with 34 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 19 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.70 | exposed |
| Relay or route written or verbal messages. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.35 | exposed |
| Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Keep records of calls placed and charges incurred. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Answer simple questions about clients' businesses, using reference files. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.18 | exposed |
| Place orders, such as for equipment, supplies, or catering for meetings. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.35 | exposed |
| Monitor emergency and code alarms, make emergency announcements, or route emergency calls to the appropriate location. | 64.2% | 23.3% | 12.5% | 4.48 | exposed |
| Perform administrative tasks, such as accepting orders, scheduling appointments or meeting rooms, or sending and receiving faxes. | 64.2% | 23.3% | 12.5% | 3.72 | exposed |
| Stamp messages with time and date and file them appropriately. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Monitor alarm systems to ensure that secure conditions are maintained. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.57 | exposed |
| Complete forms for sales orders. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts. | 43.8% | 18.8% | 37.5% | 4.65 | exposed |
| Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.74 | exposed |
| Page individuals to inform them of telephone calls, using paging or interoffice communication equipment. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.42 | exposed |
| Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Process incoming or outgoing mail, packages, or deliveries. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 3.97 | untouched |
| Perform various cash handling tasks, such as collecting payments, making bank deposits, or managing petty cash. | 18.8% | 18.8% | 62.5% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Record messages, suggesting rewording for clarity or conciseness. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Contact security staff members when necessary, using radio-telephones. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.56 | 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 | 2.79 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.18 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.74 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.68 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.11 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.82 | 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.