AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Media Technical Directors/Managers?

Task-level automation exposure for Media Technical Directors/Managers: 15 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

35% weighted task index

15 of 15 tasks scored

Median Salary

$90,360 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

High

143,120 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+4.0% employment change

12,100 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 51 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$38,820 – $129,790

Highest medians

California $129,790

New Jersey $119,840

New York $107,550

District of Columbia $104,270

Connecticut $88,260

Lowest medians

Arkansas $38,820

West Virginia $46,660

Mississippi $48,100

Puerto Rico $48,820

Nebraska $52,580

State figures come from the 27-2012 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 35%

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

Physical work 21%

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

Judgment & influence 47%

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 17/100 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

15 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) 5%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 37%

6 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 58%

8 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 05/2025 · AI/SME

Coordinate the use of drone technology for aerial filming and photography.

Constituent Tasks

#3904 · Core · 20% automatable

Switch between video sources in a studio or on multi-camera remotes, using equipment such as switchers, video slide projectors, and video effects generators.

physical manipulation — Console operation requires live physical adjustment

Operate control consoles for sound, lighting or video.

#3897 · Core · 54% automatable

Observe pictures through monitors and direct camera and video staff concerning shading and composition.

decision support — Technical requirements drafted; human owns spec

Determine technical requirements of productions or projects. Manage content of broadcasts or presentations.

#3899 · Core · 30% automatable

Supervise and assign duties to workers engaged in technical control and production of radio and television programs.

interpersonal — Coordinating production personnel is live supervisory work

Coordinate activities of production personnel.

#3896 · Core · 30% automatable

Monitor broadcasts to ensure that programs conform to station or network policies and regulations.

visual inspection — Live broadcast monitoring needs real-time human oversight

Monitor broadcasting operations to ensure proper functioning.

#3902 · Core · 25% automatable

Operate equipment to produce programs or broadcast live programs from remote locations.

physical manipulation — Broadcast equipment operation is hands-on hardware work

Operate communications, transmissions, or broadcasting equipment.

#3895 · Core · 22% automatable

Test equipment to ensure proper operation.

visual inspection — Physical inspection of broadcast hardware

Inspect communications or broadcasting equipment.

#3903 · Core · 42% automatable

Train workers in use of equipment, such as switchers, cameras, monitors, microphones, and lights.

interpersonal — Work-process coaching requires live human interaction

Train others on work processes.

#3898 · Core · 45% automatable

Act as liaisons between engineering and production departments.

decision support — AI aids logistics planning; on-site event execution human

Coordinate logistics for productions or events.

#3906 · Core · 30% automatable

Collaborate with promotions directors to produce on-air station promotions.

interpersonal — Coordinating production personnel is live supervisory work

Coordinate activities of production personnel.

#3901 · Core · 55% automatable

Confer with operations directors to formulate and maintain fair and attainable technical policies for programs.

interpersonal — Technical detail negotiation is interactive human work

Collaborate with others to determine technical details of productions.

#3900 · Core · 45% automatable

Schedule use of studio and editing facilities for producers and engineering and maintenance staff.

decision support — AI aids logistics planning; on-site event execution human

Coordinate logistics for productions or events.

#3894 · Supplemental · 25% automatable

Direct technical aspects of newscasts and other productions, checking and switching between video sources and taking responsibility for the on-air product, including camera shots and graphics.

interpersonal — Directing live productions requires human leadership

Direct productions or performances.

#3908 · Supplemental · 13% automatable

Follow instructions from production managers and directors during productions, such as commands for camera cuts, effects, graphics, and takes.

interpersonal — Collaborative artistic production needs live human coordination

Set up still or video cameras or related equipment. Collaborate with others to prepare or perform artistic productions.

#3905 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Set up and execute video transitions and special effects, such as fades, dissolves, cuts, keys, and supers, using computers to manipulate pictures as necessary.

visual inspection — Generates CG and animation; art direction and rigging human

Create computer-generated graphics or animation.

#3907 · Supplemental · 55% automatable

Discuss filter options, lens choices, and the visual effects of objects being filmed with photography directors and video operators.

interpersonal — Technical detail negotiation is interactive human work

Collaborate with others to determine technical details of productions.

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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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