Editors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 63% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 68% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 32% of the time, stays with people.
Plan, coordinate, revise, or edit written material. May review proposals and drafts for possible publication.
91,690 people do this job in the US. $77,920 a year.
Reviewed on October 1, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on6 h
- A person checks AI's work20 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet2 h
- Stays with people12 h
Editors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 20 hours become checking its work, 2 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 12 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Write headlines and articles (about 4 h, a person checks); Plan publication contents (about 3 h, a person checks); Edit copy for readability (about 2 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 68%
- 1%
- 32%
- 0%
- 0%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 63% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 32%. Today's estimate: 64%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 2.7% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 4th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 6 of its 22 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 1.3% to 0.85% (released February and March 2025); 1.4% to 1.7% (August 2025 to February 2026); 2.7% to 2.7% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 1.3% | 13 of 708 | 8 of 22 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.85% | 22 of 703 | 7 of 22 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 1.4% | 12 of 655 | 8 of 22 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 1.7% | 11 of 672 | 10 of 22 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 1.7% | 9 of 677 | 9 of 22 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 2.7% | 3 of 434 | 6 of 22 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 2.7% | 4 of 447 | 6 of 22 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
31% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Oversee production, the conversation, 7%
- Supervise reporters and editors, the conversation, 5%
- Direct the publication's departments, the conversation, 4%
- Edit manuscripts with authors, the conversation, 3%
- Monitor news gathering, the conversation, 2%
- Confer on story placement, the conversation, 2%
What becomes checking the machine
53% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it. Another 14% is desk work that is small if wrong, which can be handed over with lighter checks.
- Write headlines and articles, costly if wrong, 10%
- Plan publication contents, costly if wrong, 8%
- Oversee production, costly if wrong, 7%
- Edit copy for readability, costly if wrong, 6%
- Edit manuscripts with authors, costly if wrong, 6%
- Monitor news gathering, costly if wrong, 4%
What to learn
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 68% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- The conversations. About 32% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 22 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.Keeping the production on schedule and budget, in conversation and on paper.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 14% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Documents 50%, conversation 50% | 40%Desk part half by now |
| Write text, such as headlines, stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.Writing the pieces.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Documents 100% | 94%Half by now |
| Plan the contents of publications according to the publication's style, editorial policy, and publishing requirements.Deciding what each issue holds, within the policy.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Documents 80%, conversation 20% | 78%Desk part half by now |
| Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.Reading and editing the manuscript, and talking the changes through with the author.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | Documents 70%, conversation 30% | 44%Desk part half by now |
| Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.Reworking the copy, and overseeing others who do.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h | Documents 80%, conversation 20% | 79%Desk part half by now |
| Supervise and coordinate work of reporters and other editors.Day to day conversation with the desk, and reading their work.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Conversation 70%, documents 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Direct the policies and departments of newspapers, magazines and other publishing establishments.Mostly conversation with the department heads, plus reading and deciding.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work day | Conversation 60%, documents 40% | 39%Desk part half by now |
| Monitor news-gathering operations to ensure utilization of all news sources, such as press releases, telephone contacts, radio, television, wire services, and other reporters.Watching the sources and checking in with reporters on what they are covering.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Documents 60%, conversation 40% | 60%Desk part half by now |
| Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.Laying out what goes where on the page.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.Reading the copy for errors and fixing them.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
| Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.Coming up with ideas for stories, alone and in the meeting.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Documents 80%, conversation 20% | 80%Desk part half by now |
| Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.Checking the copy against reference sources.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Documents 100% | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers33,490 people
- Motion Picture and Video Industries7,540 people
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers7,040 people
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services4,440 people
- Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services3,890 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Editors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 64% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 68% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Editors come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Write headlines and articles (94% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Plan publication contents (78% of the task's time now); and Edit copy for readability (79% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Editors stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Confer on story placement; and Meet production and marketing staff. Together such tasks are about 4% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Editors learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are briefing a model and checking its drafts; reviewing work you did not do yourself; and the conversations. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 31% of the working time stays with people, 53% becomes checking a model's work and 14% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Editors?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 2.7% went to this job's tasks, the 4th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 6 of its 22 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 25%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Editors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 22 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 1, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
This job in your state or metro area
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.
Your own version of this job
The page above is the occupation. Your job is your title and what you actually do: give both, and they are read against these tasks in your browser, nothing sent anywhere. The headline is free: how much of your working time is within reach now and by the end of 2028, and how many of the tasks your description names.
The full personal report is $19, to print or save as a PDF: every task with when it comes within reach, which ones your description names, the parts of your description the task list does not cover, what stays with you, what becomes checking the machine and what to learn.