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There is no reliable way to tell whether AI will take your particular job from its title or an exposure score alone. A better assessment starts with the tasks you actually do, considers which could plausibly be performed or accelerated by AI, and then checks whether adoption is practical in your workplace. Exposure indicates technical potential—not a prediction that your role will disappear.

What AI job-exposure scores can—and cannot—tell you

Most exposure measures assess work activities and then aggregate scores across occupations. That distinction matters: one job may include routine, information-based tasks that AI can assist with alongside work that depends on human judgment, accountability, physical context, or interaction.

The International Labour Organization’s 2025 analysis estimates that one in four workers worldwide are in occupations with some exposure to generative AI (GenAI). The index puts 3.3% of global employment in its highest exposure category. These are occupation-level estimates of potential exposure, not forecasts that those workers will be laid off or that their occupations will be fully automated. The ILO says transformation of jobs is more likely than full replacement because most occupations still include tasks requiring human input. ILO, *Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure* (2025); ILO occupation explainer (2025).

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As ILO Senior Researcher Paweł Gmyrek put it, “Such exposure does not imply the immediate automation of an entire occupation, but rather the potential for a large share of its current tasks to be performed using this technology.” ILO interview, 29 September 2025.

Exposure is not the same as automation or job loss

An exposure estimate is an early signal about what a technology might be capable of doing. It does not establish that an employer will adopt it, that using it will be economical, or that the system can meet the role’s accuracy, privacy, infrastructure, and accountability requirements. The ILO’s April 2026 brief also cautions that indicators differ by method, rely on static descriptions of current tasks, and may involve subjective assumptions. It recommends treating them as signals to interpret alongside employment, wage, job-transition, and economic evidence—not as job-loss forecasts. ILO, 17 April 2026.

GenAI and broader AI measures are not interchangeable

The ILO’s global figures concern exposure to GenAI. OECD figures below use a broader AI-exposure approach and vacancy data from ten OECD countries. They answer related questions, but their technologies, populations, and measures differ; their percentages should not be compared as if they came from the same index.

How to assess your own tasks

Use this as a practical screening exercise, not a calculation of your personal probability of losing a job. The aim is to identify where work could change and what you should watch—not to reduce a complex role to one score.

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  1. List the work you actually do. Write down recurring tasks and deliverables, along with exceptions, handoffs, customer or colleague interactions, and review responsibilities. A job title often hides important differences in day-to-day work.
  2. Screen each task for exposure. Ask whether it is primarily digital and information-based, whether current GenAI could plausibly perform or speed it up, and how much it depends on judgment, accountability, physical context, or interaction. A task that AI can assist with is not necessarily a task it can complete independently.
  3. Look at the task mix, not just the average. A role with consistently exposed tasks differs from one with a few highly exposed activities and many less-exposed ones. The ILO framework reflects this by considering both mean task exposure and variation across tasks within an occupation. ILO occupation explainer (2025).
  4. Check whether adoption is feasible at your workplace. Consider access to suitable tools and data, infrastructure and cost, accuracy needs, privacy or other operational limits, and management’s willingness to adopt the system. Technical capability alone does not settle whether a task will actually be automated.
  5. Track workplace outcomes separately. Watch for changes in vacancies, staffing, pay, work design, or job transitions. Those are different kinds of evidence from an exposure score, which by itself does not measure realized employment change. ILO, 17 April 2026.
  6. Reassess when the work changes. Tools, workplace practices, and the task mix can shift. Treat an assessment as time-bound rather than a durable prediction.

Which tasks and occupations appear more exposed?

The ILO’s 2025 discussion highlights clerical roles such as data-entry clerks, typists, accounting and bookkeeping clerks, and administrative secretaries. It also notes increased exposure among some digital professional occupations, including financial analysts, web and multimedia developers, application programmers, and investment advisers. These are examples at the occupation level; they do not show that every person in those roles performs the same tasks or faces the same outcome. ILO interview, 29 September 2025.

Exposure does not mean a role consists only of tasks AI can handle. Even within a highly exposed occupation, responsibilities such as checking outputs, resolving unusual cases, communicating with people, and being accountable for decisions may shape how the job changes. Your own task inventory is more useful than treating an occupation label as an individual verdict.

What the published figures say—and what they do not

These figures describe different populations and measures. The ILO values refer to global employment and GenAI exposure; the OECD values come from an analysis of vacancy data in ten countries and use a broader AI-exposure classification.

Measure Finding How to interpret it
ILO global GenAI exposure, 2025 One in four workers worldwide are in occupations with some exposure; 3.3% of global employment is in the highest exposure category. Occupation-level exposure estimates, not the share of workers predicted to lose jobs. ILO Working Paper 140 (2025).
ILO highest exposure category by gender, 2025 4.7% of female employment and 2.4% of male employment globally. Shares in the index’s highest category; not individual forecasts. ILO Working Paper 140 (2025).
ILO exposure gradients by country income group, 2025 11% of employment in low-income countries and 34% in high-income countries fall into one of the four exposure gradients. Shares in any of the index’s exposure gradients, not the highest category alone. ILO Working Paper 140 (2025).
OECD vacancies in highly exposed occupations, 2024 brief About one-third of vacancies across ten OECD countries; country figures ranged from 31% in Austria to 45% in the United Kingdom. Analysis based on vacancy data through 2021–22. “Highly exposed” is specific to this study and does not mean those jobs were lost. OECD policy brief (2024).
Skills requested in highly exposed occupations, OECD, 2021–22 72% of vacancies requested at least one management skill; 67% requested at least one business skill. Vacancy requirements in the study’s highly exposed occupations—not proof that these skills guarantee job security. OECD policy brief (2024).

The OECD brief also found that vacancies in highly exposed occupations often requested digital, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills, alongside business and management skills. That mix is a reminder that exposure does not reduce a job to technical tasks alone; it also does not mean that acquiring a particular skill guarantees protection from change. OECD policy brief (2024).

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How to compare AI-exposure claims

A score or ranking is only meaningful when you know what it measures. Before using a chart, calculator, or study to judge your work, check:

  • Technology: Does it assess GenAI specifically or broader AI capabilities?
  • Unit of analysis: Is it scoring individual tasks, aggregating tasks to occupations, counting vacancies, or measuring observed workplace outcomes?
  • Task method: How are tasks defined and scored? Does the measure show variation among tasks, or only an average?
  • Coverage: Which occupational classification, countries, and data dates are included?
  • Claim: Does the result estimate technical potential, adoption, or actual employment change?

For example, the ILO’s 2025 framework scores tasks from 0 to 1: 0 means a task could not be performed by GenAI, while 1 means it could be performed entirely by GenAI. It then considers occupational mean scores and standard deviation, distinguishing relatively consistent exposure from occupations with a more mixed task profile. The resulting gradients describe exposure patterns, not layoff categories. ILO occupation explainer (2025).

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