AI may be coming for your job — but not if you’re operating machinery, building tires, or replacing roofs.
A new study from Microsoft reveals which jobs are most — and least — susceptible to generative AI, based on an analysis of 200,000 anonymized conversations with Bing Copilot users in 2024.
The study mapped conversations to work activities using the U.S. government’s job classification system and calculated an “AI applicability score” for each occupation.
Knowledge work and communication-focused occupations dominate the high-vulnerability categories. Jobs involving manual labor, physical presence, or machinery operation ranked lowest.
The research is unique because it analyzed actual AI usage from Copilot conversations in 2024 rather than relying on theoretical assessments.
The researchers noted that their data only shows AI capability overlap with work activities, not actual job displacement. Historical examples show automation can sometimes increase rather than decrease employment in affected sectors.
- “We measured how AI capabilities overlap with work activities, but it remains to be seen how different occupations refactor their work responsibilities in response to AI’s rapid progress,” they wrote in the study. “It could be that jobs change which activities they encompass, as in the case of bank tellers and ATMs. In addition, entirely new occupations may emerge due to the rise of AI, performing new types of work activities.”
Here were the top 25 occupations most and least impacted by AI, based on the AI applicability score in the study.
Most impacted:
- Interpreters and Translators
- Historians
- Passenger Attendants
- Sales Representatives (Services)
- Writers and Authors
- Customer Service Representatives
- CNC Tool Programmers
- Telephone Operators
- Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
- Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs
- Brokerage Clerks
- Farm and Home Management Educators
- Telemarketers
- Concierges
- Political Scientists
- News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
- Mathematicians
- Technical Writers
- Proofreaders and Copy Markers
- Hosts and Hostesses
- Editors
- Business Teachers, Postsecondary
- Public Relations Specialists
- Demonstrators and Product Promoters
- Advertising Sales Agents
Least impacted:
- Dredge Operators
- Bridge and Lock Tenders
- Water Treatment Plant and System Operators
- Foundry Mold and Coremakers
- Pile Driver Operators
- Floor Sanders and Finishers
- Orderlies
- Motorboat Operators
- Logging Equipment Operators
- Rail-Track Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- Roofers
- Gas Compressor and Pumping Station Operators
- Helpers–Roofers
- Tire Builders
- Surgical Assistants
- Massage Therapists
- Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
- Supervisors of Firefighters
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Dishwashers
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators
- Medical Equipment Preparers
Read the full article here
