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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Athletes and Sports Competitors?
Task-level automation exposure for Athletes and Sports Competitors: 9 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
17%
weighted task index
9 of 9 tasks scored
Median Salary
$66,710 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
15,070 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.5%
employment change
2,200 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 18 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$39,040 – $253,870
Highest medians
New Jersey $253,870
Missouri $172,700
Utah $122,800
Nevada $119,780
Texas $80,510
Lowest medians
Ohio $39,040
Oklahoma $44,110
South Carolina $45,720
Maryland $48,200
Arizona $50,090
State figures come from the 27-2021 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 17%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 69%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 22%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
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 21/100
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
9 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) 0%
0 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 31%
3 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 69%
6 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
#13038 · Core · 40% automatable
Assess performance following athletic competition, identifying strengths and weaknesses and making adjustments to improve future performance.
visual inspection — Athletic skill assessment requires live observation
Evaluate skills of athletes or performers.
#13036 · Core · 10% automatable
Maintain equipment used in a particular sport.
physical manipulation — Hands-on system maintenance to ensure function
Maintain equipment or systems to ensure proper functioning. Perform manual service or maintenance tasks.
#13033 · Core · 3% automatable
Attend scheduled practice or training sessions.
situated mobility — Practicing physical skills requires embodiment
Practice athletic or artistic skills.
#13037 · Core · 3% automatable
Maintain optimum physical fitness levels by training regularly, following nutrition plans, or consulting with health professionals.
situated mobility — Practicing physical skills requires embodiment
Practice athletic or artistic skills.
#13034 · Core · 2% automatable
Participate in athletic events or competitive sports, according to established rules and regulations.
situated mobility — Athletic competition is inherently human physical
Participate in athletic events.
#13035 · Core · 3% automatable
Exercise or practice under the direction of athletic trainers or professional coaches to develop skills, improve physical condition, or prepare for competitions.
situated mobility — Practicing physical skills requires embodiment
Practice athletic or artistic skills.
#20882 · Core · 2% automatable
Receive instructions from coaches or other sports staff prior to events and discuss performance afterwards.
situated mobility — Athletic competition is inherently human physical
Participate in athletic events.
#13040 · Core · 55% automatable
Represent teams or professional sports clubs, performing such activities as meeting with members of the media, making speeches, or participating in charity events.
text generation — Promotional content drafted; human runs channels and relationships
Promote products, activities, or organizations.
#13041 · Core · 40% automatable
Lead teams by serving as captain.
interpersonal — Coaching needs live relationship and accountability
Coach others.
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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
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