UK AI Exposure · Administrative and secretarial occupations
Typists and related keyboard occupations
Typists and related keyboard occupations type letters, memos, reports and other documents from draft, handwritten or dictated matter, using appropriate software packages.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 6.8/10 High 7.8/10 High strict reading · with tools is 7.8/10 with-tools reading · strict is 6.8/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 99% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of the routine task inventory in this role can already be done by a capable LLM. That doesn't mean the role disappears - it means the shape changes, and one person can credibly do the work of several.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Stop doing anything an LLM can do. Your edge is judgment, relationships, taste, and the parts of the work that require you to be in the room. The operators who notice this first and redesign their workflow around it will be paid for those things; the ones who cling to the old task list will compete against AI at AI's prices.
Most of the routine task inventory in this role can already be done by a capable LLM. That doesn't mean the role disappears - it means the shape changes, and one person can credibly do the work of several.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Stop doing anything an LLM can do. Your edge is judgment, relationships, taste, and the parts of the work that require you to be in the room. The operators who notice this first and redesign their workflow around it will be paid for those things; the ones who cling to the old task list will compete against AI at AI's prices.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
These are the highest-importance tasks a language model can already handle directly today. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your team's time.
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Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.
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File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.
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Address envelopes or prepare envelope labels, using typewriter or computer.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.
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File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.
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Address envelopes or prepare envelope labels, using typewriter or computer.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Word Processors and Typists" (43-9022.00).
What AI can already do
13 of 19 tasks · unaided
Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.
File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.
Address envelopes or prepare envelope labels, using typewriter or computer.
Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter.
Gather, register, and arrange the material to be typed, following instructions.
Compute and verify totals on report forms, requisitions, or bills, using adding machine or calculator.
Keep records of work performed.
Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required.
Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes.
Collate pages of reports and other documents.
Reformat documents, moving paragraphs or columns.
Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources.
Adjust settings for format, page layout, line spacing, and other style requirements.
Where humans still hold the line
6 of 19 tasks
Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes.
Print and make copies of work.
Transmit work electronically to other locations.
Manage schedules and set dates, times, and locations for meetings and appointments.
Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing.
Operate and resupply printers and computers, changing print wheels or fluid cartridges, adding paper, and loading blank tapes, cards, or disks into equipment.
Tasks via O*NET "Word Processors and Typists" (43-9022.00).
What AI can already do
15 of 19 tasks · with tools
Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.
File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.
Address envelopes or prepare envelope labels, using typewriter or computer.
Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter.
Gather, register, and arrange the material to be typed, following instructions.
Compute and verify totals on report forms, requisitions, or bills, using adding machine or calculator.
Manage schedules and set dates, times, and locations for meetings and appointments.
Keep records of work performed.
Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required.
Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes.
Collate pages of reports and other documents.
Reformat documents, moving paragraphs or columns.
Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources.
Adjust settings for format, page layout, line spacing, and other style requirements.
Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing.
Where humans still hold the line
4 of 19 tasks
Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes.
Print and make copies of work.
Transmit work electronically to other locations.
Operate and resupply printers and computers, changing print wheels or fluid cartridges, adding paper, and loading blank tapes, cards, or disks into equipment.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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