AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Art Directors?

Task-level automation exposure for Art Directors: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

48% weighted task index

16 of 16 tasks scored

Median Salary

$114,850 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Medium

53,070 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+4.2% employment change

12,200 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 47 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$57,580 – $149,320

Highest medians

Massachusetts $149,320

California $137,780

New York $137,320

Oregon $133,840

New Hampshire $132,000

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $57,580

Kansas $60,460

West Virginia $63,550

Mississippi $66,020

South Dakota $66,610

State figures come from the 27-1011 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 48%

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

Physical work 0%

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

Judgment & influence 42%

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

Routine administration 5%

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 0/100 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

16 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) 34%

6 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 45%

7 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 21%

3 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 →

Constituent Tasks

#291 · Core · 52% automatable

Work with creative directors to develop design solutions.

interpersonal — Iterative design collaboration needs human judgment and presence

Collaborate with others to develop or refine designs.

#288 · Core · 40% automatable

Present final layouts to clients for approval.

interpersonal — Client approval requires live persuasion and accountability

Present work to clients for approval.

#286 · Core · 28% automatable

Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements.

interpersonal — Managing arts departments is creative leadership and relationships

Manage operations of artistic or entertainment departments or organizations.

#287 · Core · 30% automatable

Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities.

interpersonal — Artistic coordination needs human creative leadership

Coordinate artistic activities.

#289 · Core · 48% automatable

Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques.

interpersonal — Needs elicitation requires human rapport and judgment

Confer with clients to determine needs.

#284 · Core · 62% automatable

Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound.

decision support — Technical requirements drafted; human owns spec

Determine technical requirements of productions or projects. Design layout of art or product exhibits, displays, or promotional materials.

#285 · Core · 62% automatable

Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members.

visual inspection — Judging aesthetic quality needs human taste

Review art or design materials.

#294 · Core · 45% automatable

Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements.

visual inspection — AI aids illustrations; precise technical drawing human

Draw detailed or technical illustrations.

#293 · Core · 30% automatable

Attend photo shoots and printing sessions to ensure that the products needed are obtained.

interpersonal — Artistic coordination needs human creative leadership

Coordinate artistic activities.

#292 · Core · 62% automatable

Review illustrative material to determine if it conforms to standards and specifications.

visual inspection — Judging aesthetic quality needs human taste

Review art or design materials.

#290 · Core · 36% automatable

Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing.

interpersonal — Work-process coaching requires live human interaction

Train others on work processes. Coordinate design activities. Select staff, team members, or performers.

#20242 · Core · 50% automatable

Research current trends and new technology, such as printing production techniques, computer software, and design trends.

information retrieval — Literature scanning aided; hands-on prototyping human

Research new technologies.

#295 · Supplemental · 75% automatable

Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing.

text generation — Write informational material from brief

Design layouts for print publications. Write informational material.

#297 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Conceptualize and help design interfaces for multimedia games, products, and devices.

text generation — Concepts generated; commercial curation human

Develop artistic or design concepts for decoration, exhibition, or commercial purposes.

#298 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Prepare detailed storyboards showing sequence and timing of story development for television production.

visual inspection — Drafts storyboards; visual narrative and production judgment human

Prepare production storyboards.

#296 · Supplemental · 35% automatable

Negotiate with printers and estimators to determine what services will be performed.

interpersonal — Service negotiation needs live bargaining authority

Negotiate for services.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

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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