Will AI replace Detectives and Criminal Investigators?

What this score means

Detectives and Criminal Investigators is among the least exposed roles in Public Sector / Government. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 23 out of 100 it sits close to the Public Sector / Government average of 23. Across the 5 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 14 to 31, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Detectives and Criminal Investigators, most central first, showing 12 of 30.

• 01Check victims for signs of life, such as breathing and pulse.
• 02Obtain facts or statements from complainants, witnesses, and accused persons and record interviews, using recording device.
• 03Secure deceased body and obtain evidence from it, preventing bystanders from tampering with it prior to medical examiner's arrival.
• 04Record progress of investigation, maintain informational files on suspects, and submit reports to commanding officer or magistrate to authorize warrants.
• 05Prepare reports that detail investigation findings.
• 06Prepare charges or responses to charges, or information for court cases, according to formalized procedures.
• 07Preserve, process, and analyze items of evidence obtained from crime scenes and suspects, placing them in proper containers and destroying evidence no longer needed.
• 08Obtain summary of incident from officer in charge at crime scene, taking care to avoid disturbing evidence.
• 09Note, mark, and photograph location of objects found, such as footprints, tire tracks, bullets and bloodstains, and take measurements of the scene.
• 10Examine records and governmental agency files to find identifying data about suspects.
• 11Secure persons at scene, keeping witnesses from conversing or leaving the scene before investigators arrive.
• 12Provide information to lab personnel concerning the source of an item of evidence and tests to be performed.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 5 research sources that scored Detectives and Criminal Investigators for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
• 02Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
• 03Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
• 04GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
• 05AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)

Common questions

How likely is AI to replace Detectives and Criminal Investigators?

Published research puts Detectives and Criminal Investigators at 23 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 5 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.

Do researchers agree on the risk for Detectives and Criminal Investigators?

Broadly, yes. Individual estimates for Detectives and Criminal Investigators run from 14 to 31 out of 100 across the 5 sources behind this score, a fairly tight range. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

Which public sector / government roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published public sector / government roles to Detectives and Criminal Investigators by score are Police Identification and Records Officers (24/100), Bailiffs (25/100), and First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers (25/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

Also covers

Air Marshal · Burglary Investigator · CIA Agent (Central Intelligence Agency Agent) · Child Support Agent · Child Support Investigator · Child Support Officer · City Detective · Counter Intelligence Agent and related titles

More public sector / government occupations

• School Bus Monitors26/100
• Bailiffs25/100
• First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers25/100
• Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers25/100
• Protective Service Workers, All Other25/100
• Police Identification and Records Officers24/100
• Crossing Guards and Flaggers21/100
• First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives21/100