Will AI replace Historians?

What this score means

Historians sits in the middle of the exposure range for Research & Science. Routine parts of the job are starting to automate, but much of it still depends on judgment, relationships, and context that today's models handle poorly. At 45 out of 100 it scores 4 points above the Research & Science average of 41. Across the 4 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 20 to 60, 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 Historians, most central first, showing 12 of 21.

• 01Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals.
• 02Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance.
• 03Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy.
• 04Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet.
• 05Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials.
• 06Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts.
• 07Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings.
• 08Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period.
• 09Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories.
• 10Determine which topics to research, or pursue research topics specified by clients or employers.
• 11Recommend actions related to historical art, such as which items to add to a collection or which items to display in an exhibit.
• 12Research and prepare manuscripts in support of public programming and the development of exhibits at historic sites, museums, libraries, and archives.

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 4 research sources that scored Historians for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
• 02Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure · 2025
• 03GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 04AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Architectural Historian · Collections Specialist · County Historian · Dance Historian · Dramatic Arts Historian · Field Court Researcher · Film Historian · Genealogist and related titles

More research & science occupations

• Agricultural Technicians21/100
• Animal Scientists48/100
• Anthropologists and Archeologists47/100
• Astronomers52/100
• Atmospheric and Space Scientists50/100
• Biochemists and Biophysicists39/100
• Bioinformatics Scientists49/100
• Biological Scientists, All Other47/100