AI exposure: Word Processors and Typists
Use word processor, computer, or typewriter to type letters, reports, forms, or other material from rough draft, corrected copy, or voice recording. May perform other clerical duties as assigned.
Reading this score
computedWord Processors and Typists sits in the top 2% of every occupation measured. 65.6% of what this job consists of, weighted by how important each task is to the role, is work current AI systems can produce with little standing in the way. Very few occupations score this high. The ones that do tend to share a trait: the output is a document, a calculation or a message, and nobody has to be in a particular room for it to count.
No single friction dominates this occupation. The strongest is context at 1.19 out of 3 and the weakest is presence at 0.04, 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 Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes, at 93.3%. The least is Operate and resupply printers and computers, changing print wheels or fluid cartridges, adding..., at 9.6%. A gap of 83.8% 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 6 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, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.19 | exposed |
| Reformat documents, moving paragraphs or columns. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.08 | exposed |
| Manage schedules and set dates, times, and locations for meetings and appointments. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Adjust settings for format, page layout, line spacing, and other style requirements. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Address envelopes or prepare envelope labels, using typewriter or computer. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.01 | exposed |
| Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.92 | exposed |
| Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required. | 83.3% | 16.7% | 0.0% | 4.27 | exposed |
| Collate pages of reports and other documents. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Keep records of work performed. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.99 | exposed |
| Gather, register, and arrange the material to be typed, following instructions. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.40 | exposed |
| Compute and verify totals on report forms, requisitions, or bills, using adding machine or calculator. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Transmit work electronically to other locations. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.51 | exposed |
| Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes. | 32.4% | 9.3% | 58.3% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Print and make copies of work. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Operate and resupply printers and computers, changing print wheels or fluid cartridges, adding paper, and loading blank tapes, cards, or disks into equipment. | 9.6% | 2.9% | 87.5% | 3.76 | 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 | 3.27 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.74 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.04 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.42 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.19 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.53 | 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.