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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Writers and Authors?
Task-level automation exposure for Writers and Authors: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
60%
weighted task index
20 of 20 tasks scored
Median Salary
$76,910 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
47,940 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-0.3%
employment change
11,900 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 44 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$43,440 – $129,300
Highest medians
District of Columbia $129,300
Maryland $104,330
Connecticut $98,460
Vermont $94,430
Louisiana $89,520
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $43,440
Arkansas $47,970
Kentucky $48,780
Wyoming $49,650
North Dakota $50,860
State figures come from the 27-3043 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 60%
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 22%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 44%
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 11/100
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) 47%
9 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 49%
10 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 →Constituent Tasks
#22671 · Core · 50% automatable
Write fiction or nonfiction prose, such as short stories, novels, biographies, articles, descriptive or critical analyses, and essays.
text generation — Creative drafting aided; artistic judgment human-owned
Write material for artistic or entertainment purposes.
#22668 · Core · 82% automatable
Revise written material to meet personal standards and to satisfy needs of clients, publishers, directors, or producers.
text generation — AI edits prose well; human owns voice and final judgment
Edit written materials.
#22654 · Core · 40% automatable
Present drafts and ideas to clients.
interpersonal — Client approval requires live persuasion and accountability
Present work to clients for approval.
#22664 · Core · 82% automatable
Edit or rewrite existing written material as necessary, and submit written material for approval by supervisor, editor, or publisher.
text generation — AI edits prose well; human owns voice and final judgment
Edit written materials.
#22662 · Core · 55% automatable
Conduct research to obtain factual information and authentic detail, using sources such as newspaper accounts, diaries, and interviews.
information retrieval — AI gathers references; creative synthesis is human
Conduct research to inform art, designs, or other work.
#22655 · Core · 72% automatable
Vary language and tone of messages based on product and medium.
text generation — Promotional copy drafted; brand strategy human
Write advertising or promotional material.
#22657 · Core · 72% automatable
Write articles, bulletins, sales letters, speeches, and other related informative, marketing and promotional material.
text generation — Promotional copy drafted; brand strategy human
Write advertising or promotional material.
#22670 · Core · 72% automatable
Write advertising material for use by publication, broadcast, or internet media to promote the sale of goods and services.
text generation — Promotional copy drafted; brand strategy human
Write advertising or promotional material.
#22672 · Core · 72% automatable
Write to customers in their terms and on their level so that the script, story, or advertisement message is more readily received.
text generation — Promotional copy drafted; brand strategy human
Write advertising or promotional material.
#22667 · Core · 50% automatable
Prepare works in appropriate format for publication, and send them to publishers or producers.
text generation — Creative drafting aided; artistic judgment human-owned
Write material for artistic or entertainment purposes.
#22666 · Core · 40% automatable
Plan project arrangements or outlines, and organize material accordingly.
text generation — Creative drafting aided; artistic judgment human-owned
Write material for artistic or entertainment purposes. Coordinate artistic activities.
#22658 · Core · 62% automatable
Conduct research and interviews to determine which of a product's selling features should be promoted.
data analysis — Market research analysis aided; primary data human
Conduct market research.
#22653 · Core · 48% automatable
Discuss with the client the product, advertising themes and methods, and any changes that should be made in advertising copy.
interpersonal — Needs elicitation requires human rapport and judgment
Confer with clients to determine needs.
#22669 · Core · 58% automatable
Work with staff to develop script, story, or advertising concepts.
interpersonal — Ongoing production discussion requires shared human context
Discuss production content and progress with others.
#22663 · Core · 55% automatable
Consult with sales, media and marketing representatives to obtain information on product or service and discuss style and length of advertising written material.
interpersonal — Marketing collaboration mixes creative and relational work
Collaborate with others in marketing activities.
#22661 · Core · 20% automatable
Collaborate with other writers on specific projects.
interpersonal — Collaborative artistic production needs live human coordination
Collaborate with others to prepare or perform artistic productions.
#22665 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Follow appropriate procedures to get copyrights for completed work.
decision support — Legal permissions need counsel and formal filings
Obtain copyrights or other legal permissions.
#22660 · Supplemental · 82% automatable
Review advertising trends, consumer surveys, and other data regarding marketing of goods and services to determine the best way to promote products.
information retrieval — AI tracks trends across sources continuously
Monitor current trends.
#22656 · Supplemental · 58% automatable
Develop advertising campaigns for a wide range of clients, working with an advertising agency's creative director and art director to determine the best way to present advertising information.
text generation — Promotional strategy drafted; human tailors and approves
Develop promotional strategies or plans.
#22659 · Supplemental · 72% automatable
Invent names for products and write the slogans that appear on packaging, brochures and other promotional material.
text generation — Promotional copy drafted; brand strategy human
Write advertising or promotional material.
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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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