Authors, writers and translators
Authors, writers and translators write, edit and evaluate literary material for publication excluding material for newspapers, magazines and other periodicals but including scripts and narrative for film, TV, radio and computer games and animations; and translate spoken and written statements into different languages.
- Employees (UK)
- 20k
- Median annual pay
- £36,865
- Exposure score ?
- 5.4/10 Moderate 9.5/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 9.5/10 with-tools reading, strict is 5.4/10
- Wage exposure
- £398m £700m
Higher exposure than 96% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
A real share of the task list is within reach, especially drafting, summarising, research and analysis. People in this role who learn to direct AI well will pull ahead of those who do not.
If you are in this role
Treat AI like a capable junior you manage. Where you would hand a task to a junior with a clear brief, AI can do it now. Spend the time you get back on judgement and relationships.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
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Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.
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Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
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Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.
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Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Editors" (27-3041.00).
What AI can already do
7 of 21 tasks, unaided
Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.
Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.
Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.
Write text, such as stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.
Make manuscript acceptance or revision recommendations to the publisher.
Read material to determine index items and arrange them alphabetically or topically, indicating page or chapter location.
What still needs a person
14 of 21 tasks
Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.
Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.
Supervise and coordinate work of reporters and other editors.
Monitor news-gathering operations to ensure utilization of all news sources, such as press releases, telephone contacts, radio, television, wire services, and other reporters.
Confer with management and editorial staff members regarding placement and emphasis of developing news stories.
Plan the contents of publications according to the publication's style, editorial policy, and publishing requirements.
Review and approve proofs submitted by composing room prior to publication production.
Select local, state, national, and international news items received from wire services, based on assessment of items' significance and interest value.
Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.
Direct the policies and departments of newspapers, magazines and other publishing establishments.
Assign topics, events and stories to individual writers or reporters for coverage.
Meet frequently with artists, typesetters, layout personnel, marketing directors, and production managers to discuss projects and resolve problems.
Arrange for copyright permissions.
Interview and hire writers and reporters or negotiate contracts, royalties, and payments for authors or freelancers.
Tasks via O*NET "Editors" (27-3041.00).
What AI can already do
20 of 21 tasks, with tools
Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.
Read, evaluate and edit manuscripts or other materials submitted for publication, and confer with authors regarding changes in content, style or organization, or publication.
Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.
Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.
Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.
Write text, such as stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.
Supervise and coordinate work of reporters and other editors.
Monitor news-gathering operations to ensure utilization of all news sources, such as press releases, telephone contacts, radio, television, wire services, and other reporters.
Confer with management and editorial staff members regarding placement and emphasis of developing news stories.
Plan the contents of publications according to the publication's style, editorial policy, and publishing requirements.
Review and approve proofs submitted by composing room prior to publication production.
Select local, state, national, and international news items received from wire services, based on assessment of items' significance and interest value.
Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.
Make manuscript acceptance or revision recommendations to the publisher.
Direct the policies and departments of newspapers, magazines and other publishing establishments.
Assign topics, events and stories to individual writers or reporters for coverage.
Arrange for copyright permissions.
Interview and hire writers and reporters or negotiate contracts, royalties, and payments for authors or freelancers.
Read material to determine index items and arrange them alphabetically or topically, indicating page or chapter location.
What still needs a person
1 of 21 tasks
Meet frequently with artists, typesetters, layout personnel, marketing directors, and production managers to discuss projects and resolve problems.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Associate professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
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Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons