AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Advertising Sales Agents?

Task-level automation exposure for Advertising Sales Agents: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

58% weighted task index

20 of 20 tasks scored

Median Salary

$64,820 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Medium

91,700 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-7.2% employment change

7,800 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 49 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$40,910 – $101,320

Highest medians

Washington $101,320

New York $98,360

Massachusetts $80,500

California $80,360

District of Columbia $75,030

Lowest medians

Tennessee $40,910

Alaska $43,840

Puerto Rico $44,160

West Virginia $44,700

New Mexico $45,620

State figures come from the 41-3011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 58%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 4%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 53%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 20%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 10/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

20 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 55%

11 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 41%

8 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 4%

1 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 08/2026 · Incumbent

Write and produce radio advertisements.

Constituent Tasks

#4580 · Core · 55% automatable

Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.

interpersonal — Technical explanation to customers needs live interaction

Explain technical product or service information to customers.

#4579 · Core · 63% automatable

Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop content for sales presentations or other materials. Deliver promotional presentations to current or prospective customers.

#4589 · Core · 66% automatable

Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance.

information retrieval — AI extracts product specs and summarizes

Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs. Study product information to acquire professional knowledge.

#4586 · Core · 72% automatable

Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.

decision support — Estimates costs/terms; human negotiates and commits

Estimate costs or terms of sales.

#4581 · Core · 47% automatable

Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts.

data analysis — AI analyzes market data to identify prospects

Identify potential customers. Develop professional relationships or networks.

#4587 · Core · 75% automatable

Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop content for sales presentations or other materials.

#4585 · Core · 56% automatable

Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.

data analysis — AI analyzes market data to identify prospects

Identify potential customers. Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.

#4584 · Core · 60% automatable

Draw up contracts for advertising work, and collect payments due.

text generation — Draft contracts; legal terms human-owned

Prepare sales or other contracts. Process sales or other transactions.

#4583 · Core · 40% automatable

Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval.

interpersonal — Client approval requires live persuasion and accountability

Present work to clients for approval.

#4582 · Core · 68% automatable

Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts.

text generation — Compliance docs drafted; human owns regulatory accuracy

Prepare documentation for contracts, transactions, or regulatory compliance.

#4591 · Core · 58% automatable

Consult with company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies to develop promotional plans.

text generation — Plans drafted; human owns positioning and approval

Develop marketing plans or strategies.

#4590 · Core · 67% automatable

Determine advertising medium to be used, and prepare sample advertisements within the selected medium for presentation to customers.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop marketing plans or strategies. Develop content for sales presentations or other materials.

#4592 · Core · 70% automatable

Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop content for sales presentations or other materials. Prepare sales or other contracts.

#4597 · Core · 38% automatable

Arrange for commercial taping sessions, and accompany clients to sessions.

decision support — Algorithmic scheduling with human oversight of constraints

Schedule operational activities. Accompany patients or clients on outings to provide assistance.

#4588 · Core · 35% automatable

Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork, and provide samples.

interpersonal — Technical explanation to customers needs live interaction

Explain technical product or service information to customers. Distribute promotional literature or samples to customers.

#4596 · Core · 49% automatable

Gather all relevant material for bid processes, and coordinate bidding and contract approval.

text generation — Draft proposals; human tailors and owns commitments

Develop proposals for current or prospective customers. Negotiate sales or lease agreements for products or services.

#4593 · Core · 68% automatable

Identify new advertising markets, and propose products to serve them.

data analysis — AI analyzes market data to identify prospects

Identify potential customers.

#4594 · Core · 75% automatable

Write copy as part of layout.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop content for sales presentations or other materials.

#4595 · Core · 22% automatable

Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information, promote products, expand network of contacts, and increase knowledge.

interpersonal — Professional networking depends on human relationship capital

Attend events to develop professional knowledge. Develop professional relationships or networks.

#4598 · Core · 75% automatable

Write sales outlines for use by staff.

text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves

Develop content for sales presentations or other materials.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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