Word Processors and Typists
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.
Use word processor, computer, or typewriter to type letters, reports, forms, or other material from rough draft, corrected copy, or voice recording. May perform other clerical duties as assigned.
35,010 people do this job in the US. $49,280 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
Word Processors and Typists, 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: Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter (about 9 h); Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources (about 4 h); Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required (about 4 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, 7%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 62%. 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, 1.2% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 20th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 9 of its 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.42% to 0.4% (released February and March 2025); 0.66% to 0.49% (August 2025 to February 2026); 1.2% to 1.2% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.42% | 46 of 708 | 8 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.4% | 44 of 703 | 8 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.66% | 30 of 655 | 8 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.39% | 42 of 672 | 10 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.49% | 41 of 677 | 10 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 1.2% | 22 of 434 | 8 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 1.2% | 20 of 447 | 9 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 28% of this job's working time as physical work. For 28% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 24% in a purpose-built cell, 4% in a structured facility. 0.32 of 3, the 380th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 72%
- In a purpose-built cell 24%
- In a structured facility 4%
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 22% | 50 min13 min to 3.3 h | 97%Half by now | |
| Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, J.P. Morgan Payments / Ripcord lockbox mail automation robot (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ripcord robotic digitization workcells (Ripcord, Inc.) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Reformat documents, moving paragraphs or columns.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.4 h | 100%Half by now | |
| File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Gather, register, and arrange the material to be typed, following instructions.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ripcord robotic digitization workcell (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Print and make copies of work.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Xerox AltaLink C8100 series multifunction printer (with Office/Business Ready Finisher) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust settings for format, page layout, line spacing, and other style requirements.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 8 min3 min to 25 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 Word Processors and Typists 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 Word Processors and Typists 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: Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter (97% of the task's time now); Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources (99% of the task's time now); and Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Word Processors and Typists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes; Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing; and Print and make copies of work. Together such tasks are about 23% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Word Processors and Typists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 1.2% went to this job's tasks, the 20th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 9 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 24%. 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 Word Processors and Typists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 28% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 28% of the working time, 4% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.32 of 3. One example: Xerox AltaLink C8100 series multifunction printer (with Office/Business Ready Finisher) for "print and make copies of work". 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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