Nearly one in five jobs 'highly exposed' to generative AI, report finds

Nearly one in five jobs are “highly exposed” to — or require skills that can largely be performed by — generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), according to a new report from the American job search website Indeed.

Some 19.8 percent of jobs listed on Indeed were categorized as “highly exposed” to the rapidly expanding form of AI, like ChatGPT, that can generate original content, Indeed’s AI at Work Report found. 

However, the vast majority of jobs face more limited exposure to GenAI, with 45.7 percent of positions considered “moderately exposed” to the technology and 34.6 percent considered “minimally exposed.”

“There’s no doubt GenAI is a powerful leap in technology that will impact all jobs, particularly those within the tech sector, and the labor market as a whole,” Svenja Gudell, Indeed’s chief economist, said in a press release. 

“Our research shows that GenAI is less likely to replace an entire job, but rather serve as a tool to augment or streamline parts of a job,” she added.

The Indeed report categorized jobs as highly, moderately or minimally exposed to GenAI based on the portion of necessary skills the technology could effectively perform.

GenAI was proficient at 80 percent or more of required skills in highly exposed positions, 50 percent or more of skills in moderately exposed positions, and less than 50 percent of skills in minimally exposed positions.

The report found that software development jobs were the most exposed to GenAI, with the technology capable of performing 95 percent of the skills required for such positions.

IT operations and help-desk jobs, mathematics jobs, and information design and documentation jobs also sat at the top end of the spectrum for potential exposure to GenAI.

Positions that can be performed remotely were also considered more vulnerable to the new technology.

Driving jobs sat at the other end of the spectrum as least exposed to GenAI, with the technology only able to perform 29 percent of the necessary skills. Beauty and wellness jobs, personal care and home health jobs, and nursing jobs similarly faced some of the lowest levels of potential exposure to GenAI.