Will AI replace Telephone Operators?

This score cannot predict whether this occupation or any individual job will be replaced. It shows which tasks current and near-term AI can perform or accelerate, which tasks remain more durable, and where a worker can adapt. Employer decisions, demand, regulation, and how the role changes are outside the score.

What does a score of 65 mean for a Telephone Operators?

It means that, weighted across the 14 tasks we analyzed for this role, the task mix sits at 65 on a 0–100 exposure scale — in the most-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. It measures task exposure to current and near-term AI capabilities, not the probability of losing a job.

Which tasks in this role are most exposed to AI?

The highest-exposure tasks are: Update directory information; Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections; Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail. Exposure comes from the published, rubric-scored data release rather than being generated when you open this page.

Which parts of this job are most durable?

The most durable responsibilities are: Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations; Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants; Provide relay service for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Durable tasks typically depend on judgment, relationships, physical presence, or accountability.

Is this score personalized to me?

No — this page shows the occupation-level baseline. Two people with the same title often do different work. The $9 personalized report recalculates the score from the tasks you actually do and builds a concrete 7/30/90-day plan around them.

Telephone Operators

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 known as: Information Specialist · Customer Service Assistant · Charge Operator (Charge Op) · Central Office Operator (CO Op) · Directory Operator (Directory Op) · Emergency Operator (Emergency Op)

AI Task Exposure Score

Very High exposure

More exposed than 98% of 968 occupations · Rank #14 (1 = most exposed)

This score estimates how exposed the tasks in a role are to current and near-term AI capabilities. It does not predict whether a specific person will lose a job.

Your free role snapshot

Start with the work, not the headline

This occupation baseline already contains different kinds of work. These are the two ends of its current task range and one useful action you can take now.

Most exposed task

Update directory information.

Automatable 88/100 exposure

Most durable task

Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.

Durable 20/100 exposure

Useful next step

Make one change to the task mix

Compare one real week with the exposed tasks, test one supervised delegation, and redirect the saved time toward more durable work.

Want this mapped to your actual week? Know what to strengthen, what to delegate to AI with review, and what to do over the next 7, 30, and 90 days.

Build my 7/30/90-day action plan — $9

Most exposed tasks

Highest structured exposure values in this role’s task mix — the work AI systems can already do most of.

Update directory information.88
Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.85
Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.85

Augmentable tasks

Work where AI assists rather than replaces — the productivity frontier of this role.

Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.60
Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.55
Promote company products, services, and savings plans when appropriate.55

Most durable tasks

Lowest exposure — typically judgment, relationships, physical presence, or accountability. This is the human moat.

Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.20
Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.25
Provide relay service for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.30

Task exposure values and classifications are published, versioned estimates audited against the anchored rubric. This page reads them from the data release rather than generating them at request time. Bars show exposure contribution relative to this role’s task mix.

What this means

A score of 65 puts Telephone Operators in the most-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. In practice, exposure this high is about the mix: 8 of 14 analyzed tasks lean automatable, 3 augmentable, and 3 durable. The useful question isn’t “will AI take this job” — it’s which tasks go first, which get faster, and where to reposition time. That’s what the personalized report maps against your actual week.

Lower-exposure adjacent roles

Shown only when the target is at least 10 points lower under the same score version and skill overlap is at least 50%. These are adjacent roles with lower task exposure — not guaranteed “safe careers”.

Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers

29 ▼ 36 pts lower

Skill overlap ≈ 56% · Related O*NET role; Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers is an adjacent path (Elevated band).

Public Safety Telecommunicators

35 ▼ 30 pts lower

Skill overlap ≈ 64% · Related O*NET role; Public Safety Telecommunicators is an adjacent path (High band).

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service

49 ▼ 16 pts lower

Skill overlap ≈ 80% · Related O*NET role; Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service is an adjacent path (High band).

Labor-market context

$41,740median wage
3,430employed
300annual openings
-27.5%projected growth

Context only — labor statistics are not inputs to the exposure score. See methodology.

Turn your actual week into a plan

Know which work to strengthen, what to delegate to AI with review, and what to do over the next 7, 30, and 90 days. Your $9 plan includes a confidence-rated personal score, task matrix, human moat, and only genuinely lower-exposure adjacent roles.

Build my 7/30/90-day action plan — $9

Related roles

Adjacent by skills or family — no exposure claim implied.

How this score was calculated

The score is the plain average of the AI-exposure values of this role’s 14 analyzed tasks (equal task weights in this release — no hidden factors):

Automatable 8 tasks, averaging 82/100 exposure
Augmentable 3 tasks, averaging 57/100 exposure
Durable 3 tasks, averaging 25/100 exposure

score = (8×82 + 3×57 + 3×25) ÷ 14 ≈ 65

Every task’s exposure value was scored against a published anchored rubric that scores tasks as actually performed — physical, in-person, and accountability requirements included (data release 2026.07.12-r2). The band (Very High) is a corpus quartile; the percentile is tie-aware across all 968 occupations.

FAQ — Telephone Operators

Will AI replace Telephone Operators?: This score cannot predict whether this occupation or any individual job will be replaced. It shows which tasks current and near-term AI can perform or accelerate, which tasks remain more durable, and where a worker can adapt. Employer decisions, demand, regulation, and how the role changes are outside the score.
What does a score of 65 mean for a Telephone Operators?: It means that, weighted across the 14 tasks we analyzed for this role, the task mix sits at 65 on a 0–100 exposure scale — in the most-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. It measures task exposure to current and near-term AI capabilities, not the probability of losing a job.
Which tasks in this role are most exposed to AI?: The highest-exposure tasks are: Update directory information; Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections; Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail. Exposure comes from the published, rubric-scored data release rather than being generated when you open this page.
Which parts of this job are most durable?: The most durable responsibilities are: Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations; Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants; Provide relay service for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Durable tasks typically depend on judgment, relationships, physical presence, or accountability.
Is this score personalized to me?: No — this page shows the occupation-level baseline. Two people with the same title often do different work. The $9 personalized report recalculates the score from the tasks you actually do and builds a concrete 7/30/90-day plan around them.

Score version jr-v1 · data release 2026.07.12-r2 · updated 2026-07-13 · baseline mapping: 14 of 14 tasks carry source-level provenance · methodology