# Will correctional officers be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Correctional officers score 26 of 100 for AI exposure. 72% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 12% today and speed up another 16%. - **12%** AI can do it - **16%** AI helps - **72%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 69% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 27 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 5 and leaves 19 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Maintain records of prisoners' identification and charges. Recording IDs and charges is structured data entry AI handles well. | 80% AI can do it | | Record information, such as prisoner identification, charges, and incidents of inmate disturbance, keeping daily logs of prisoner activities. Routine logs and incident records are digital documentation AI can draft. | 65% AI can do it | | Arrange daily schedules for prisoners, including library visits, work assignments, family visits, and counseling appointments. Schedule generation is software friendly; staff reviews and approves. | 65% AI can do it | | Use nondisciplinary tools and equipment, such as a computer. General computer tasks where AI assistants speed up routine work. | 55% AI helps | | Provide to supervisors oral and written reports of the quality and quantity of work performed by inmates, inmate disturbances and rule violations, and unusual occurrences. AI can draft written reports from notes; oral reports stay human. | 55% AI helps | ## How correctional officers compare All occupations (923) Protective service (26) **Correctional officers score 26**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 31 for protective service. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $58,940 a year, May 2025 People employed 380,500 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-7.4% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Keep prisoner logs and incident records in Microsoft Word and Excel - Run physical custody, escort, and search duties in person - Hold a valid state correctional officer certification and firearms qualification - Write incident reports for supervisors that hold up under review - Operate 3M Electronic Monitoring systems to check inmate movement ## Safer roles nearby 2 related occupations with lower scores. - [Bailiffs20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/bailiffs/) - [Psychiatric aides20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/psychiatric-aides/) ## Questions about correctional officers and AI Will AI replace correctional officers? Partly. About 2 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly maintaining prisoner ID and charge records and keeping daily activity logs. Physical custody, supervision, searches, and restraint stay with officers because they need a person in the room. Which tasks AI is taking over for correctional officers? Record keeping is the most exposed work, with an exposure score of 80 for maintaining prisoner identification and charge records. AI handles structured data entry well. Daily activity logs, with a score of 65, and prisoner schedules, also 65, are routine digital documents that AI can draft or generate for staff to approve. Which tasks stay human for correctional officers? Physical custody work stays human, with exposure scores of 3 to 5. Officers escort prisoners, search cells and vehicles, recapture escapees, serve meals, and use force. These tasks make up most of the job's weight, at 72 percent, because they require a person acting in person on site. How can correctional officers stay valuable as AI takes over paperwork? Spend the time AI frees on the in-person duties that carry the job. Get certified in firearms and restraint techniques, learn the electronic monitoring systems, and write clear oral and written reports to supervisors. Review AI-drafted logs in Microsoft Word and Excel before you sign them off. ## Related jobs - [Correctional supervisors31 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/correctional-supervisors/) - [Probation officers44 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/probation-officers/) - [Police officers31 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/police-officers/) - [Police supervisors36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/police-supervisors/) ## Next steps for correctional officers - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.