The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 41-3011.00 · Job Zone 3

AI exposure: Advertising Sales Agents

Sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or Internet establishments or public spaces.

Reading this score

computed

54.5% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Advertising Sales Agents at the 92th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 3.0 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.

What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 1.88 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.

The most exposed thing this job does is Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used, at 80.0%. The least is Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information,..., at 7.1%. A gap of 72.9% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within sales occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 22 roles in the group is 49.4%, and only 4 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.

What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 19 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 1 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Task by task

20 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.30exposed
Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.28exposed
Identify new advertising markets, and propose products to serve them.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.99exposed
Write copy as part of layout.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.70exposed
Write sales outlines for use by staff.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.27exposed
Determine advertising medium to be used, and prepare sample advertisements within the selected medium for presentation to customers.67.1%20.4%12.5%4.12exposed
Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.66.7%33.3%0.0%4.43exposed
Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.61.3%26.2%12.5%4.12exposed
Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance.57.5%17.5%25.0%4.37exposed
Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.55.0%20.0%25.0%4.32exposed
Consult with company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies to develop promotional plans.55.0%20.0%25.0%4.13exposed
Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising.50.0%25.0%25.0%4.37exposed
Draw up contracts for advertising work, and collect payments due.47.5%27.5%25.0%4.24exposed
Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts.45.0%30.0%25.0%4.21exposed
Gather all relevant material for bid processes, and coordinate bidding and contract approval.45.0%30.0%25.0%4.01exposed
Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts.41.7%20.8%37.5%4.30exposed
Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork, and provide samples.35.0%15.0%50.0%4.04exposed
Arrange for commercial taping sessions, and accompany clients to sessions.28.3%21.7%50.0%4.06exposed
Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval.26.7%23.3%50.0%4.23exposed
Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information, promote products, expand network of contacts, and increase knowledge.7.1%5.4%87.5%3.56untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability3.050-4
Embodiment0.350-3
Presence0.680-3
Accountability0.600-3
Context1.880-3
Verification cost1.070-3

What this means in practice

Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.