Will AI replace Telephone Operators?

What this score means

Telephone Operators sits in the middle of the exposure range for Administration. 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 50 out of 100 it sits close to the Administration average of 50. Across the 4 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 20 to 67, 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 Telephone Operators, most central first, showing 12 of 14.

• 01Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
• 02Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
• 03Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
• 04Update directory information.
• 05Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
• 06Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
• 07Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
• 08Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.
• 09Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.
• 10Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.
• 11Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.
• 12Provide relay service for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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 Telephone Operators 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

411 Directory Assistance Operator (411 Directory Assistance Op) · Central Office Operator (CO Op) · Change Number Operator (Change Number Op) · Charge Operator (Charge Op) · Communications Operator (Communications Op) · Customer Service Assistant · Directory Assistance Operator (Directory Assistance Op) · Directory Operator (Directory Op) and related titles

More administration occupations

• Bill and Account Collectors52/100
• Billing and Posting Clerks57/100
• Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks63/100
• Brokerage Clerks65/100
• Cargo and Freight Agents40/100
• Communications Equipment Operators, All Other42/100
• Correspondence Clerks67/100
• Couriers and Messengers19/100