AI exposure: Art Directors
Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design.
Reading this score
computed43.4% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Art Directors at the 78th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.6 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 16 tasks it averages 1.90 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 Research current trends and new technology, at 86.7%. The least is Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who..., at 24.4%. A gap of 62.2% 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 arts, design, entertainment, sports and media occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 40 roles in the group is 36.4%, and only 14 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 16 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 0 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
16 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research current trends and new technology, such as printing production techniques, computer software, and design trends. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.74 | exposed |
| Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing. | 75.8% | 11.7% | 12.5% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Prepare detailed storyboards showing sequence and timing of story development for television production. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 3.74 | exposed |
| Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Review illustrative material to determine if it conforms to standards and specifications. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Conceptualize and help design interfaces for multimedia games, products, and devices. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.91 | exposed |
| Work with creative directors to develop design solutions. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.61 | exposed |
| Confer with clients to determine objectives, budget, background information, and presentation approaches, styles, and techniques. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.31 | exposed |
| Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound. | 41.7% | 20.8% | 37.5% | 4.24 | exposed |
| Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.14 | exposed |
| Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.35 | exposed |
| Attend photo shoots and printing sessions to ensure that the products needed are obtained. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.07 | exposed |
| Negotiate with printers and estimators to determine what services will be performed. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Present final layouts to clients for approval. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.53 | exposed |
| Hire, train, and direct staff members who develop design concepts into art layouts or who prepare layouts for printing. | 24.4% | 25.6% | 50.0% | 3.97 | assisted |
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
judgedEvery 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.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.62 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.58 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.22 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.43 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.90 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.04 | 0-3 |
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.