AI exposure: Statisticians
Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information. May specialize in fields such as biostatistics, agricultural statistics, business statistics, or economic statistics. Includes mathematical and survey statisticians.
Reading this score
computedStatisticians sits in the top 3% of every occupation measured. 62.8% of what this job consists of, weighted by how important each task is to the role, is work current AI systems can produce with little standing in the way. Very few occupations score this high. The ones that do tend to share a trait: the output is a document, a calculation or a message, and nobody has to be in a particular room for it to count.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 19 tasks it averages 1.69 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 Analyze and interpret statistical data to identify significant differences in relationships..., at 86.7%. The least is Supervise and provide instructions for workers collecting and tabulating data, at 13.3%. A gap of 73.3% 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 computer and mathematical occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 36 roles in the group is 56.7%, and only 11 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 19 tasks, 18 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
19 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analyze and interpret statistical data to identify significant differences in relationships among sources of information. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.67 | exposed |
| Identify relationships and trends in data, as well as any factors that could affect the results of research. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Process large amounts of data for statistical modeling and graphic analysis, using computers. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Prepare data for processing by organizing information, checking for inaccuracies, and adjusting and weighting the raw data. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.48 | exposed |
| Adapt statistical methods to solve specific problems in many fields, such as economics, biology, and engineering. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Report results of statistical analyses, including information in the form of graphs, charts, and tables. | 76.7% | 23.3% | 0.0% | 4.52 | exposed |
| Evaluate sources of information to determine any limitations, in terms of reliability or usability. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Apply sampling techniques, or use complete enumeration bases to determine and define groups to be surveyed. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 3.79 | exposed |
| Examine theories, such as those of probability and inference, to discover mathematical bases for new or improved methods of obtaining and evaluating numerical data. | 65.0% | 10.0% | 25.0% | 3.42 | exposed |
| Plan data collection methods for specific projects, and determine the types and sizes of sample groups to be used. | 58.3% | 29.2% | 12.5% | 3.81 | exposed |
| Prepare and structure data warehouses for storing data. | 55.6% | 27.8% | 16.7% | 3.29 | exposed |
| Evaluate the statistical methods and procedures used to obtain data to ensure validity, applicability, efficiency, and accuracy. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 4.67 | exposed |
| Determine whether statistical methods are appropriate, based on user needs or research questions of interest. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 4.50 | exposed |
| Develop and test experimental designs, sampling techniques, and analytical methods. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Design research projects that apply valid scientific techniques, and use information obtained from baselines or historical data to structure uncompromised and efficient analyses. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Develop software applications or programming for statistical modeling and graphic analysis. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.94 | exposed |
| Report results of statistical analyses in peer-reviewed papers and technical manuals. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | 3.85 | exposed |
| Present statistical and nonstatistical results, using charts, bullets, and graphs, in meetings or conferences to audiences such as clients, peers, and students. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.29 | exposed |
| Supervise and provide instructions for workers collecting and tabulating data. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.00 | 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 | 3.36 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.11 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.32 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.72 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.69 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.47 | 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.