Which work in your company is changing
The unit is the task, not the job title. For each role you employ, this page separates the work whose method should change, the work that should stay with people, and the duties automation creates that nobody is doing yet.
What this page can and cannot answer
It answers: for a role you employ, which tasks are being automated, which are being assisted, which are still human-led, and which are new — each with the evidence behind it and the scope that evidence applies to.
It does not answer: what it would cost, how long it would take, whether your data and systems can support it, or what it does to your org chart and business model. Those need per-industry task maps, workflow and cost data we do not have yet — so the page stops where the data stops rather than filling the gap with plausible-sounding advice.
Cognitive automation
22 roles where this is the dominant signal.
Accountant / Bookkeeper4/6 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Entering and coding transactions ✓ Evidence-backedTaking invoices, receipts and bank lines and putting them into the ledger under the right account.
- Reconciliation ✓ Evidence-backedMatching ledger entries against bank statements and sub-ledgers, and chasing the differences.
Keep people on it · 2
- Explaining the numbers to decision-makers ≈ Platform inferenceTranslating financial position into what a founder, manager or board should actually do about it.
- Judging the ambiguous case ≈ Platform inferenceDeciding treatment when the rule does not cleanly cover the transaction.
New duties · 1
- Supervising the automation itself ✓ Evidence-backedChecking what the tools produced, catching silent errors, and owning the result when a model got it wrong.
Customer service representative3/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Answering repeat questions ✓ Evidence-backedThe same fifty questions, asked in a thousand different ways.
- Routing and triage ✓ Evidence-backedWorking out what the customer actually wants and sending it to whoever can do it.
Keep people on it · 2
- Handling a customer who is already angry ≈ Platform inferenceDe-escalating someone who has been let down, often more than once.
- Deciding an exception ≈ Platform inferenceChoosing to refund, waive or override policy for a specific customer.
New duties · 1
- Reviewing what the bot said ✓ Evidence-backedAuditing automated conversations for wrong answers, bad tone and promises the company cannot keep.
Translator / Interpreter2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- First-draft translation of routine text ✓ Evidence-backedManuals, product copy, correspondence, internal documents.
Keep people on it · 1
- Deciding what to change, not just how to say it ≈ Platform inferenceTranscreation, market adaptation, and telling a client their message will not land.
New duties · 1
- Post-editing machine output ✓ Evidence-backedFixing what the machine got wrong, and knowing where to look for it.
Graphic designer2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Producing routine assets ✓ Evidence-backedResizing, versioning, banner sets, social variants, template fills.
Keep people on it · 2
- Working out what the client actually needs ≈ Platform inferenceTurning a vague or wrong brief into the real problem, before making anything.
- Judging quality and defending the call ✓ Evidence-backedKnowing what is good, in this context, for this audience — and holding the line in a review.
New duties · 1
- Owning the system, not the artefact ≈ Platform inferenceDefining the rules, components and constraints that keep output coherent when other people (and tools) produce it.
Junior software developer3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Writing routine code ✓ Evidence-backedCRUD endpoints, forms, standard integrations, tests for known patterns.
Keep people on it · 2
- Turning a vague request into a spec ≈ Platform inferenceAsking the questions that reveal what should actually be built.
- Deciding how pieces fit together ≈ Platform inferenceChoosing structure and trade-offs that will still hold in two years.
New duties · 1
- Reviewing generated code ✓ Evidence-backedReading plausible code carefully enough to catch what is confidently wrong.
Paralegal3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- First-pass document review ✓ Evidence-backedReading thousands of emails, contracts or disclosures to flag which ones matter for the case or the deal.
Keep people on it · 1
- Client and witness contact ≈ Platform inferenceGetting documents out of a reluctant client, preparing a nervous witness, explaining what happens next.
New duties · 1
- Checking what the tools produced ✓ Evidence-backedConfirming that a cited case exists, that a summary matches the source, that a generated clause does not contradict another.
Lawyer3/5 evidenced
Change the method 0Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Keep people on it · 2
- Giving advice someone will act on ≈ Platform inferenceTelling a client what to do given the law, the facts, the money and the risk they can stomach.
- Advocacy and appearances ≈ Platform inferenceStanding up in a room and persuading a judge, tribunal, regulator or counterparty in real time.
New duties · 1
- Supervising machine-assisted work ✓ Evidence-backedDeciding what the tools may be used for, and signing for the output as if you had done it yourself.
Journalist2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Rewriting press releases and results ✓ Evidence-backedTurning earnings tables, sports scores, weather, police blotters and press releases into short articles.
Keep people on it · 1
- Getting people to tell you things ≈ Platform inferenceBuilding the relationships and trust that make someone hand you a document or say what they saw.
New duties · 1
- Detecting synthetic and manipulated media ≈ Platform inferenceDeciding whether a viral clip, image or audio is real before it is reported as fact.
Copywriter1/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Producing volume copy ✓ Evidence-backedProduct descriptions, ad variants, SEO articles, social captions, email sequences — many pieces, small stakes each.
Keep people on it · 1
- Finding the message ≈ Platform inferenceWorking out, from the product and the customer, the one thing worth saying and the angle that makes it land.
New duties · 1
- Defining and policing a voice ≈ Platform inferenceDeciding how the brand sounds, writing that down in a way tools and colleagues can follow, and catching the drift.
Marketing specialist3/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Producing campaign content ✓ Evidence-backedPosts, ad creative variants, landing page copy, email drafts, short videos — the raw material of every campaign.
- Running paid media ✓ Evidence-backedSetting up, bidding, targeting and optimising campaigns on ad platforms.
Keep people on it · 1
- Understanding who actually buys and why ≈ Platform inferenceTalking to customers, reading the sales calls, knowing what objection kills the deal and what phrase closes it.
New duties · 1
- Operating the marketing automation itself ✓ Evidence-backedDesigning the prompts, workflows and guardrails that let tools produce and place content without embarrassing the brand.
Data analyst2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Writing queries and building dashboards ✓ Evidence-backedTranslating 'how many users did X last month' into SQL, and wiring the result into a chart someone can refresh.
Keep people on it · 2
- Working out what is really being asked ≈ Platform inferenceTurning a manager's vague worry into a measurable question, and knowing which definition of 'active user' they mean.
- Knowing when the data is lying ✓ Evidence-backedSpotting the broken pipeline, the duplicated events, the timezone bug, the definition that changed in March.
New duties · 1
- Owning the definitions the tools rely on ≈ Platform inferenceMaintaining the metric definitions, the documentation and the semantic layer that make natural-language querying produce correct answers.
Financial analyst2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Gathering data and summarising filings ✓ Evidence-backedPulling numbers from reports, transcribing earnings calls, summarising 200-page filings into a page.
Keep people on it · 1
- Deciding what to assume ≈ Platform inferenceChoosing the growth rate, the margin path, the discount rate — and being able to say why to someone who disagrees.
New duties · 1
- Orchestrating the analytical tooling ≈ Platform inferenceSetting up the data feeds, model assistants and checks so the team's output is fast and trustworthy.
HR / recruiter3/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Sourcing and screening candidates ✓ Evidence-backedSearching for profiles, reading hundreds of applications, scheduling and running first-round screens.
- HR administration ✓ Evidence-backedOnboarding paperwork, payroll inputs, leave, benefits queries, policy questions answered for the hundredth time.
Keep people on it · 2
- Deciding whom to hire ✓ Evidence-backedReading a person in an interview, weighing the panel's disagreement, and making the call the manager will live with.
- Handling difficult situations ≈ Platform inferenceGrievances, performance problems, restructurings, the conversation nobody wants to have.
New duties · 1
- Redesigning jobs around automation ≈ Platform inferenceWorking out which tasks in which roles are changing, what the new roles look like, and how to move people into them.
School teacher3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Marking and written feedback ≈ Platform inferenceGrading a stack of essays or problem sets and writing a comment on each that the student will actually read.
Keep people on it · 1
- Running the room ≈ Platform inferenceThirty children, one adult, forty minutes: attention, behaviour, safety, and the child who is quietly not okay.
New duties · 1
- Orchestrating tutoring tools ✓ Evidence-backedDeciding which tools students use for what, checking what the tools taught them, and catching what they got wrong.
Registered nurse3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Documentation and handover notes ✓ Evidence-backedCharting observations, writing care notes, preparing the handover — often an hour or more per shift.
Keep people on it · 2
- Hands-on care ≈ Platform inferenceMedication, wounds, lines, moving and washing patients, and everything that involves touching a frightened person.
- Talking to patients and families ✓ Evidence-backedExplaining what is happening, absorbing fear and anger, translating the doctor, sitting with someone at 3 a.m.
New duties · 1
- Working with clinical decision tools ≈ Platform inferenceUsing and overriding the alerts, triage suggestions and documentation drafts, and reporting when they are wrong.
Pharmacist3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Dispensing and counting ✓ Evidence-backedPicking, counting, labelling and packaging the medicine that matches the prescription.
Keep people on it · 1
- Counselling the patient ✓ Evidence-backedExplaining how to take it, what to expect, what to do if it goes wrong — to someone who may not have understood the doctor.
New duties · 1
- Clinical services ✓ Evidence-backedVaccinations, medication reviews, minor ailment consultations, chronic disease monitoring.
Architect2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 3New duties 0
Change the method · 1
- Renderings and presentation images ≈ Platform inferenceProducing the images that sell the scheme to a client or a planning committee.
Keep people on it · 3
- Understanding the brief and finding the idea ≈ Platform inferenceWorking out what the client actually needs, what the site allows, and the organising idea that makes it a building rather than a diagram.
- Approvals and coordinating the team ✓ Evidence-backedPlanning permission, building control, and keeping structural, mechanical and cost consultants pointing the same way.
- Site inspection and construction-phase decisions ≈ Platform inferenceWalking the site, answering the contractor's questions, deciding what to do when the ground is not what the survey said.
Product / UX designer2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Producing screens and components ✓ Evidence-backedTurning a decided flow into high-fidelity mockups, states, variants and hand-off specs.
Keep people on it · 2
- Defining the right problem ≈ Platform inferenceWorking out what users are actually trying to do, where the current product fails them, and what is worth fixing first.
- Getting the team to agree ✓ Evidence-backedPersuading engineering that the extra state is worth building and product that the shortcut will cost users, in the same week.
New duties · 1
- Designing for non-deterministic products ≈ Platform inferenceShaping products whose output varies — conversational interfaces, agents, generated content — where the old screen-by-screen craft does not apply.
Video editor2/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Logging footage and assembling a rough cut ✓ Evidence-backedWatching everything, tagging it, transcribing the interviews, pulling selects, laying down a first timeline.
- Versions, formats and captions ≈ Platform inferenceCutting the same piece to six lengths and three aspect ratios, adding captions, exporting for every platform.
Keep people on it · 2
- Finding the story and the rhythm ≈ Platform inferenceDeciding what the piece is about, what to cut, where the beat lands, and when to hold a shot one second longer.
- Reading and managing the client ≈ Platform inferenceTranslating 'make it pop' into a change, pushing back on the note that would ruin the piece, delivering on time anyway.
New duties · 1
- Directing generated footage ✓ Evidence-backedProducing shots that were never filmed — generated b-roll, extensions, replacements — and making them cut seamlessly with what was.
Software tester / QA engineer2/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Manual regression testing ≈ Platform inferenceClicking through the same flows every release to confirm nothing that used to work has broken.
- Writing test cases and automation ≈ Platform inferenceTurning requirements into cases, and cases into scripts that run in the pipeline.
Keep people on it · 2
- Exploratory and adversarial testing ✓ Evidence-backedTrying the thing nobody specified: the weird input, the race, the user who does step 3 before step 2.
- Deciding whether it ships ✓ Evidence-backedWeighing the open bugs, the risk, the deadline and the business, and saying yes or no.
New duties · 1
- Testing systems with a model inside ≈ Platform inferenceEvaluating software whose output is not deterministic — building evaluation sets, catching regressions in behaviour, testing for harmful outputs.
Administrative assistant2/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Scheduling and correspondence ✓ Evidence-backedFinding the slot six people can make, drafting the reply, chasing the confirmation, rescheduling when it all moves.
- Expenses, travel and documents ≈ Platform inferenceBooking, reconciling, filing, formatting, and getting the right form to the right system.
Keep people on it · 2
- Gatekeeping and knowing what matters ≈ Platform inferenceDeciding who gets through, what the executive needs to see today, and what can wait — based on knowing the person and the organisation.
- Events and physical logistics ≈ Platform inferenceThe offsite, the board dinner, the visitor who arrives early, the projector that does not work.
New duties · 1
- Operating the executive's assistants ✓ Evidence-backedConfiguring, supervising and correcting the software assistants that now handle the routine — and catching what they get wrong.
Bank teller3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Routine transactions ✓ Evidence-backedDeposits, withdrawals, transfers, bill payments, balance enquiries.
Keep people on it · 1
- Helping with the complicated cases ✓ Evidence-backedBereavement, power of attorney, a frozen account, a customer who does not understand the app and is frightened of it.
New duties · 1
- Teaching customers the digital channels ≈ Platform inferenceSitting with someone and getting them onto the app, safely, so they do not need to come back for the routine.
Physical automation
5 roles where this is the dominant signal.
Retail cashier / shop assistant1/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 3New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Scanning and taking payment ✓ Evidence-backedThe till: scanning, bagging, payment, receipts.
Keep people on it · 3
- Restocking and shelf work ≈ Platform inferenceUnpacking deliveries, filling shelves, facing up, rotating dates, handling the 3,000 products that are each slightly different.
- Helping customers ≈ Platform inferenceWhere is it, is there more in the back, which one is better, can I return this, my card did not work.
- Loss prevention and the difficult customer ≈ Platform inferenceNoticing theft, handling the argument at self-checkout, de-escalating, deciding when to call for help.
New duties · 1
- Picking online orders in store ≈ Platform inferenceWalking the aisles to assemble a customer's online basket for collection or delivery.
Warehouse worker3/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Moving goods around the building ✓ Evidence-backedWalking or driving pallets, totes and shelves from where they are to where they need to be.
Keep people on it · 1
- Handling what the system cannot ≈ Platform inferenceDamaged goods, mislabelled bins, a jam in the conveyor, a return that does not match its record.
New duties · 1
- Operating and maintaining the robot fleet ✓ Evidence-backedMonitoring the fleet, recovering stuck robots, swapping batteries, running the first-line maintenance.
Assembly line worker2/5 evidenced
Change the method 2Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Change the method · 2
- Repetitive assembly at a fixed station ✓ Evidence-backedThe same insertion, fastening or joining operation on identical parts, at line speed.
- Inspection and quality checks ≈ Platform inferenceLooking at the part or the product and deciding whether it passes.
Keep people on it · 1
- Dexterous or variable assembly ≈ Platform inferenceRouting cables, fitting flexible parts, aligning things by feel, handling the product that comes in twelve variants.
New duties · 1
- Programming and maintaining the robots ≈ Platform inferenceTeaching a robot a new path, adjusting the vision system, running preventive maintenance on the line's automation.
Electrician1/5 evidenced
Change the method 0Keep people on it 1New duties 1
Keep people on it · 1
- Installation in real buildings ≈ Platform inferenceRunning cable through walls that are not where the drawing says, in a building full of other trades, to code.
New duties · 1
- Electrification: EV chargers, heat pumps, solar, storage ✓ Evidence-backedInstalling and integrating the equipment that the shift away from fossil fuels puts into every building.
Chef / cook2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Fixed-menu, high-volume cooking ✓ Evidence-backedFrying, grilling, assembling the same items thousands of times a day in a quick-service kitchen.
Keep people on it · 2
- Cooking to order in a real kitchen ≈ Platform inferenceTwelve tickets, six stations, one pan short, the fish that came in smaller than yesterday.
- Running the team ≈ Platform inferenceTraining, scheduling, keeping standards up and tempers down, covering the station when someone does not show.
New duties · 1
- Working alongside kitchen automation ✓ Evidence-backedLoading, monitoring and cleaning the automated fryer or assembly unit, and taking over when it fails mid-rush.
Driving & mobility
3 roles where this is the dominant signal.
Truck driver2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 3New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Highway driving ✓ Evidence-backedThe long, structurally simple middle of a trip — controlled access, predictable lanes, no pedestrians.
Keep people on it · 3
- Being responsible for the load ≈ Platform inferenceSecuring, checking, signing for, and answering for cargo that is damaged, short or refused.
- Yard manoeuvring and docking ≈ Platform inferenceBacking a trailer into a tight bay, in a yard with people walking around and no lane markings.
- Handling the trip going wrong ≈ Platform inferenceBreakdowns, closures, weather, a receiver who will not accept, a gate that is locked.
New duties · 1
- Remote supervision of autonomous fleets ✓ Evidence-backedMonitoring several autonomous trucks from a desk and intervening when one gets stuck.
Delivery rider / courier2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 2New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Deciding what to deliver next and which way to go ≈ Platform inferenceOrder allocation, batching and routing across a shift.
Keep people on it · 2
- The last fifty metres ≈ Platform inferenceThe lift that needs a code, the gate, the sixth floor with no lift, the customer who does not answer, the wrong address.
- Managing the platform and the earnings ≈ Platform inferenceChoosing when and where to work, understanding the pay algorithm, disputing a penalty, keeping the rating up.
New duties · 1
- Loading, recovering and supervising delivery robots ✓ Evidence-backedWhere robots or drones operate, someone loads them, retrieves the stuck one and handles the delivery it could not finish.
Ride-hail / taxi driver2/5 evidenced
Change the method 1Keep people on it 3New duties 1
Change the method · 1
- Driving the trip ✓ Evidence-backedGetting the passenger from pickup to drop-off through city traffic, safely and by a sensible route.
Keep people on it · 3
- Handling the passenger ≈ Platform inferenceThe drunk, the frightened, the lost, the one with a wheelchair, the one who will not get out, the medical emergency.
- Roads that are not on the map ≈ Platform inferenceThe unmarked roadworks, the traffic officer's hand signal, the flooded underpass, the airport pickup chaos.
- Working the platform ✓ Evidence-backedChoosing hours and zones, reading surge, managing acceptance rates, and absorbing the vehicle, fuel and insurance costs.
New duties · 1
- Remote assistance and fleet operations ≈ Platform inferenceMonitoring vehicles, resolving stuck ones, cleaning and repositioning the fleet, handling the passenger the car cannot.
Where to go next
- Recent changes — every verified record, newest first
- Method and evidence — how a task judgement is made, and when we say we do not know