How AI will affect various professions

Microsoft just published a detailed look at how generative AI tools like Copilot are actually being used — and what that might mean for different professions.

They analyzed 200,000 anonymized Copilot conversations from 2024, matched the tasks to official U.S. job activity data, and gave each occupation an AI applicability score (how much of its work overlaps with things AI already does well).

Key takeaways:

• Most “AI-reachable” roles: knowledge- and communication-heavy, such as interpreters, writers, sales reps, customer service, programmers, and journalists.
• Least affected (for now): roles involving manual labor, operating machinery, or physical care, such as construction, machine operators, cleaners, and healthcare support.
• Weak link to wages: many might assume AI’s impact would be concentrated in higher-paying jobs, but the study finds the correlation is small; some mid- and even lower-paid roles are just as “AI-reachable.”

You can download the whole study as a PDF here.

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