Will AI replace Telephone Operators?
Estimated risk score: 99 out of 100
Very high replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (80 to 100).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 16 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 43-2021.00 · Office and Administrative Support
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 15 of its 16 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
- Keep records of calls placed and received, and of related toll charges.
- Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
- Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.
- Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
- Update directory information.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 0 of its 16 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
None of its rated tasks.
What the job is
Provide information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories. Assist customers with special billing requests, such as charges to a third party and credits or refunds for incorrectly dialed numbers or bad connections. May handle emergency calls and assist children or people with physical disabilities to make telephone calls.
Also called: Phone Operator (Telephone Operator), TELECOM Op (Telecommunications Operator), Directory Assistance Operator (Directory Assistance Op), 411 Directory Assistance Operator (411 Directory Assistance Op), Op, CO Op, Toll Op, Local Op.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Office and Administrative Support). Different jobs, each scored by a person.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate