AI exposure: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers.
Reading this score
computed53.8% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive at the 92th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.9 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
No single friction dominates this occupation. The strongest is context at 1.30 out of 3 and the weakest is presence at 0.66, which is a narrow spread. Where nothing structural stands in the way, exposure tracks capability almost directly, and capability is the thing that changes every quarter.
The most exposed thing this job does is Schedule and confirm appointments for clients, customers, or supervisors, at 93.3%. The least is Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters, at 8.3%. A gap of 85.0% 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 office and administrative support occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 55.9% across the group's 51 roles, with 26 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 31 tasks, 28 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 3 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take capability alone, since there is little structural friction here to slow adoption once a system can do the work. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
31 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule and confirm appointments for clients, customers, or supervisors. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.93 | exposed |
| Maintain scheduling and event calendars. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.84 | exposed |
| Conduct searches to find needed information, using such sources as the Internet. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.68 | exposed |
| Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Create, maintain, and enter information into databases. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Review work done by others to check for correct spelling and grammar, ensure that company format policies are followed, and recommend revisions. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.66 | exposed |
| Prepare conference or event materials, such as flyers or invitations. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.29 | exposed |
| Provide services to customers, such as order placement or account information. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.77 | exposed |
| Arrange conference, meeting, or travel reservations for office personnel. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.70 | exposed |
| Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.72 | exposed |
| Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material. | 61.3% | 26.2% | 12.5% | 4.00 | exposed |
| Mail newsletters, promotional material, or other information. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 3.42 | exposed |
| Establish work procedures or schedules and keep track of the daily work of clerical staff. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 3.77 | exposed |
| Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs. | 51.7% | 23.3% | 25.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Prepare and mail checks. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.73 | exposed |
| Manage projects or contribute to committee or team work. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.64 | exposed |
| Develop or maintain internal or external company Web sites. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.10 | exposed |
| Complete forms in accordance with company procedures. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.78 | exposed |
| Perform payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Order and dispense supplies. | 36.7% | 13.3% | 50.0% | 3.31 | exposed |
| Operate office equipment, such as fax machines, copiers, or phone systems and arrange for repairs when equipment malfunctions. | 35.0% | 15.0% | 50.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Learn to operate new office technologies as they are developed and implemented. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.50 | exposed |
| Collect and deposit money into accounts, disburse funds from cash accounts to pay bills or invoices, keep records of collections and disbursements, and ensure accounts are balanced. | 33.3% | 29.2% | 37.5% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Compose, type, and distribute meeting notes, routine correspondence, or reports, such as presentations or expense, statistical, or monthly reports. | 32.2% | 17.8% | 50.0% | 3.83 | exposed |
| Operate electronic mail systems and coordinate the flow of information, internally or with other organizations. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Train and assist staff with computer usage. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.37 | exposed |
| Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.55 | exposed |
| Make copies of correspondence or other printed material. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 3.66 | untouched |
| Supervise other clerical staff and provide training and orientation to new staff. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.67 | untouched |
| Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters. | 8.3% | 4.2% | 87.5% | 3.67 | 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 | 2.87 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.78 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.66 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.73 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.30 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.84 | 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.