Microsoft researchers have revealed the 40 jobs most exposed to AI—and even teachers make the list

Microsoft’s released its list of 40 jobs that have high crossover with AI—and professionals warned it highlights the careers “most at risk,” with historians, translators, and sales reps high on the list. While Microsoft said high applicability doesn’t automatically mean those roles will be killed by AI, employers have been putting a pause on hiring and cutting roles to make way for enhanced productivity. As companies like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft publicly announce workforce reductions amid heavy AI investment, workers are scrambling to understand which careers might soon disappear and be outsourced to technology.Recommended Video A report from Microsoft researchers studying the occupational implications of generative AI offers some clarity. Translators, historians, and writers are among the roles with the highest AI applicability score, meaning the job’s tasks are most closely aligned with AI’s current abilities, according to the 2025 report that ranked professions. Customer service and sales representatives—which make up about 5 million jobs in the U.S.—will also have to compete with AI. Overall, the jobs most exposed are ones that involve knowledge work—like people doing computer, math, or administrative work in an office, the researchers wrote. Sales jobs are also high on the list, since they often involve sharing and explaining information. While Microsoft said high applicability doesn’t automatically mean those jobs will necessarily be replaced by AI, the list of roles quickly went viral—with professionals deeming them “most at risk.” It comes as companies have been freezing thousands of would-be new roles that it expects AI will take over in the next 5 years, and graduates in the U.K. are facing the worst job market since 2018 as employers pause hiring and use AI to cut costs, according to Indeed. Of course, there are some jobs that are unlikely to be touched by AI: Dredge operators; bridge and lock tenders; and water treatment plant and system operators are among the jobs with virtually no generative AI exposure, thanks in part to their hands-on equipment requirements. Still, business leaders like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have said every job will be touched by AI in some way, and so it’s best to embrace it. “Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,” Huang said at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in 2025. “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.” A degree won’t save you from AI’s jobs revolution Many of the jobs with high chances of getting upended by AI soon, like political scientists, journalists, and management analysts, are all ones that typically require a four-year degree to land a job. And as the researchers point out, having a degree—which was once considered a surefire path to career advancement—is no longer a safeguard against the changing tides. “In terms of education requirements, we find higher AI applicability for occupations requiring a Bachelor’s degree than occupations with lower requirements,” wrote the researchers, who studied 200,000 real-world conversations of Copilot users and cross-compared the AI’s performance with occupational data. On the flip side, there are some career paths with low AI exposure, that are growing in demand. The health care sector, in particular, is an area that is experiencing this heavily. The home health and personal care aid industry is expected to create among the greatest number of…

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