AI exposure: Industrial-Organizational Psychologists
Apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales, and marketing problems. Activities may include policy planning; employee testing and selection, training, and development; and organizational development and analysis. May work with management to organize the work setting to improve worker productivity.
Reading this score
computed39.7% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Industrial-Organizational Psychologists at the 70th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.5 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 25 tasks it averages 2.16 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 Review research literature to remain current on psychological science issues, at 80.0%. The least is Provide expert testimony in employment lawsuits, at 0.0%. A gap of 80.0% 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 life, physical and social science occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 60 roles in the group is 35.8%, and only 22 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 25 tasks, 17 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 6 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
25 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review research literature to remain current on psychological science issues. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Conduct presentations on research findings for clients or at research meetings. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Write reports on research findings and implications to contribute to general knowledge or to suggest potential changes in organizational functioning. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.62 | exposed |
| Write articles, white papers, or reports to share research findings and educate others. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.58 | exposed |
| Formulate and implement training programs, applying principles of learning and individual differences. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.88 | exposed |
| Develop and implement employee selection or placement programs. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.62 | exposed |
| Develop interview techniques, rating scales, and psychological tests used to assess skills, abilities, and interests for the purpose of employee selection, placement, or promotion. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.50 | exposed |
| Identify training and development needs. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.72 | exposed |
| Analyze data, using statistical methods and applications, to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of workplace programs. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.50 | exposed |
| Analyze job requirements and content to establish criteria for classification, selection, training, and other related personnel functions. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.31 | exposed |
| Advise management concerning personnel, managerial, and marketing policies and practices and their potential effects on organizational effectiveness and efficiency. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.20 | exposed |
| Study organizational effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency, including the nature of workplace supervision and leadership. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.83 | exposed |
| Conduct research studies of physical work environments, organizational structures, communication systems, group interactions, morale, or motivation to assess organizational functioning. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Develop new business by contacting potential clients, making sales presentations, and writing proposals. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.62 | exposed |
| Observe and interview workers to obtain information about the physical, mental, and educational requirements of jobs, as well as information about aspects such as job satisfaction. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.35 | exposed |
| Study consumers' reactions to new products and package designs, and to advertising efforts, using surveys and tests. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 2.62 | exposed |
| Facilitate organizational development and change. | 25.0% | 25.0% | 50.0% | 4.31 | assisted |
| Assess employee performance. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 4.00 | assisted |
| Conduct individual assessments, including interpreting measures and providing feedback for selection, placement, or promotion. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Train clients to administer human resources functions, including testing, selection, and performance management. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Participate in mediation and dispute resolution. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 2.75 | untouched |
| Coach senior executives and managers on leadership and performance. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.12 | untouched |
| Counsel workers about job and career-related issues. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 3.04 | untouched |
| Provide expert testimony in employment lawsuits. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.71 | untouched |
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 | 2.52 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.46 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.28 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.28 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.16 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.90 | 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.