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STRATUSWORKFORCE SCAN
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Editors

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.

now
46%

of the working time. Estimate.

Kinds of work
  • 81%
  • 19%
  • 0%
25%

Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.

Half the desk work within reach
Already

On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.

Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 81% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.

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, 36%. Today's estimate: 46%.

0%25%50%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 0% within reacho3, April 2025: 3% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 5% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 9% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 9% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 13% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 14% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 36% within reachToday (estimate), September 2026: 46% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

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.

The tasks

Sorted by . 22 tasks from .

TaskKind
Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.Done more than weekly by most who do it. 14%3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days25%Half by Mar 2027
Write text, such as headlines, stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.Done daily by most who do it. 10%1.7 h25 min to 5 h51%Half by now
Plan the contents of publications according to the publication's style, editorial policy, and publishing requirements.Done daily by most who do it. 10%3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h41%Half by Nov 2026
Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.Done daily by most who do it. 8%3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days18%Half by Jul 2027
Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task.8%1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h69%Half by now
Supervise and coordinate work of reporters and other editors.Done daily by most who do it. 7%1.7 h25 min to 3.3 hStays with people
Direct the policies and departments of newspapers, magazines and other publishing establishments.Done daily by most who do it. 6%4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work dayStays with people
Monitor news-gathering operations to ensure utilization of all news sources, such as press releases, telephone contacts, radio, television, wire services, and other reporters.Done daily by most who do it. 6%1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h77%Half by now
Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.Done more than weekly by most who do it. 4%50 min17 min to 2.5 h87%Half by now
Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.Done daily by most who do it. 4%38 min13 min to 2.5 h86%Half by now
Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task.4%50 min17 min to 2.5 h87%Half by now
Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.Done daily by most who do it. 3%38 min13 min to 1.7 h95%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.

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.