Occupation baseline · Research consensus
Will AI replace Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products?
Baseline AI displacement risk for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products, aggregated from 7 research sources.
What this score means
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products sits in the middle of the exposure range for Sales & Marketing. 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 54 out of 100 it scores 4 points above the Sales & Marketing average of 50. Across the 7 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 38 to 61, 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 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products, most central first, showing 12 of 33.
- 01Negotiate prices or terms of sales or service agreements.
- 02Prepare and submit sales contracts for orders.
- 03Visit establishments to evaluate needs or to promote product or service sales.
- 04Maintain customer records, using automated systems.
- 05Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms.
- 06Quote prices, credit terms, or other bid specifications.
- 07Contact new or existing customers to discuss how specific products or services can meet their needs.
- 08Emphasize product features, based on analyses of customers' needs and on technical knowledge of product capabilities and limitations.
- 09Compute customer's installation or production costs and estimate savings from new services, products, or equipment.
- 10Select or assist customers in selecting products based on customer needs, product specifications, and applicable regulations.
- 11Prepare sales presentations or proposals to explain product specifications or applications.
- 12Complete expense reports, sales reports, or other paperwork.
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 7 research sources that scored Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 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
- 03WORKBank: Expert-Rated Automation Capacity of Occupational Tasks · 2026Shao, Zope, Jiang, Pei, Nguyen, Brynjolfsson, Yang, Stanford (2026)
- 04Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure · 2025International Labour Organization, Working Paper 140 (2025)
- 05Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
- 06GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
- 07AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)
Common questions
- How likely is AI to replace Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products?
- Published research puts Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products at 54 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the transitioning band. The number is a weighted consensus of 7 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.
- Do researchers agree on the risk for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products?
- Only partly. Individual estimates for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products run from 38 to 61 out of 100 across the 7 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.
- Which sales & marketing roles face similar AI exposure?
- The closest published sales & marketing roles to Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products by score are Insurance Sales Agents (54/100), Advertising Sales Agents (55/100), and Solar Sales Representatives and Assessors (56/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.
Also covers
Abrasives Sales Representative · Agricultural Sales Representative · Aircraft Equipment and Parts Sales Representative · Aircraft Sales Representative · Animal Feed Products Sales Representative · Auto Sales Consultant (Automotive Sales Consultant) · Building Equipment and Supplies Sales Representative · Chemical Sales Representative and related titles
Estimated displacement window
The dated estimate for this role is included in the full personalised report.
Your number is not the baseline
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More sales & marketing occupations
- Counter and Rental Clerks57/100
- Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents57/100
- Solar Sales Representatives and Assessors56/100
- Advertising Sales Agents55/100
- Insurance Sales Agents54/100
- Sales Engineers52/100
- Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers50/100
- Retail Salespersons49/100
Informational guidance based on published research, not professional career or financial advice. Scores update as new research is ingested.