Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
In short: today's best AI models could do about 77% 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 the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 23% of the time, stays with people.
Operate telephone business systems equipment or switchboards to relay incoming, outgoing, and interoffice calls. May supply information to callers and record messages.
34,280 people do this job in the US. $38,630 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on31 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people9 h
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 31 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 9 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules (about 6 h); Perform administrative tasks, such as accepting orders, scheduling appointments or meeting rooms, or sending and receiving faxes (about 3 h); Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary (about 3 h).
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.
- 77%
- 0%
- 23%
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.
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, 36%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 77%. Today's estimate: 77%.
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, 0.032% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 288th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.14% to 0.28% (released February and March 2025); 0.06% to 0.03% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.045% to 0.032% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.14% | 126 of 708 | 4 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.28% | 69 of 703 | 2 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.06% | 216 of 655 | 5 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.026% | 347 of 672 | 4 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.03% | 334 of 677 | 4 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.045% | 240 of 434 | 2 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.032% | 288 of 447 | 1 of 19 |
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 6% of this job's working time as physical work. For 6% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 6% in a purpose-built cell. 0.06 of 3, the 566th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 94%
- In a purpose-built cell 6%
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 19 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 16% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Perform various cash handling tasks, such as collecting payments, making bank deposits, or managing petty cash.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, City of Yakima utility bill payment kiosk (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 7 min3 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform administrative tasks, such as accepting orders, scheduling appointments or meeting rooms, or sending and receiving faxes.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 4 min2 min to 8 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor alarm systems to ensure that secure conditions are maintained.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 7 min3 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Keep records of calls placed and charges incurred.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Answer simple questions about clients' businesses, using reference files.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Record messages, suggesting rewording for clarity or conciseness.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Relay or route written or verbal messages.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 4 min2 min to 8 min | 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.
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).
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 Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 77% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 77% 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 Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service 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: Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules (100% of the task's time now); Perform administrative tasks, such as accepting orders, scheduling appointments or meeting rooms, or sending and receiving faxes (100% of the task's time now); and Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Perform various cash handling tasks, such as collecting payments, making bank deposits, or managing petty cash; Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts; and Process incoming or outgoing mail, packages, or deliveries. Together such tasks are about 23% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.032% went to this job's tasks, the 288th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 19 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 39%. 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 Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 6% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 6% of the working time. Its index is 0.06 of 3. One example: City of Yakima utility bill payment kiosk for "perform various cash handling tasks, such as collecting payments, making bank deposits, or managing petty cash". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 19 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, 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.
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