Will forestry professors be replaced by AI?
Updated
Forestry professors score 47 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 55%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 12% outright, and 33% stays with people.
- 12% AI can do it
- 55% AI helps
- 33% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Higher than 67% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 25 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 14 and leaves 8 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records. Attendance and grade records are structured data entry. | 80% AI can do it |
| Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments. Compiling bibliographies is search and formatting AI handles well. | 80% AI can do it |
| Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts. Drafting syllabi and handouts is routine writing AI does well. | 70% AI can do it |
| Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others. AI can draft exam questions and grade objective answers. | 60% AI helps |
| Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers. AI can grade written work, but instructor must verify and judge. | 50% AI helps |
| Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences. AI speeds literature review and summaries, but conferences stay human. | 50% AI helps |
| Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction. AI helps redesign curricula and methods, teacher decides. | 50% AI helps |
| Write grant proposals to procure external research funding. AI drafts proposal sections, but funding strategy is human. | 50% AI helps |
| Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics, such as forest resource policy, forest pathology, and mapping. AI drafts lecture content and slides, but teacher delivers live. | 45% AI helps |
| Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in books, professional journals, or electronic media. AI aids analysis and drafting, but field research and judgement remain. | 40% AI helps |
Show the other 15 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment. AI can draft supply lists and compare options, ordering is manual. | 35% AI helps |
| Review papers for colleagues and scientific journals. AI can summarize manuscripts and draft reviews, expert judgement stays. | 35% AI helps |
| Provide information to the public by leading workshops and training programs and by developing educational materials. AI drafts workshop and educational materials, delivery is live. | 35% AI helps |
| Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues. AI answers catalog and curriculum questions, career advice stays personal. | 30% AI helps |
| Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities. Registration is software-driven, recruiting events remain human. | 30% AI helps |
| Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head. Admin paperwork is partly drafted by AI, leadership is human. | 30% AI helps |
| Provide professional consulting services to government or industry. AI supports analysis and reports, field expertise and client trust stay human. | 25% AI helps |
| Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work. Mentoring students relies on personal judgement and in-person work. | 15% Needs a person |
| Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues. Committee work is meeting-based deliberation, AI only summarizes. | 15% Needs a person |
| Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues. Collaborating with colleagues is interpersonal and deliberative. | 12% Needs a person |
| Supervise students' laboratory or field work. Supervising field and lab work needs physical presence. | 10% Needs a person |
| Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions. Moderating live class discussion requires real-time human interaction. | 10% Needs a person |
| Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students. Office hours are live, face-to-face student interaction. | 10% Needs a person |
| Act as advisers to student organizations. Advising student clubs is hands-on, in-person relationship work. | 10% Needs a person |
| Participate in campus and community events. Attending campus and community events is in-person presence. | 5% Needs a person |
How forestry professors compare
All occupations (923)
Educational instruction and library (62)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $101,420 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 1,520 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +2.8% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Lead supervised field and lab work in person
- Teach spatial analysis in ESRI ArcGIS
- Teach forest inventory statistics in SAS
- Verify AI-drafted exams and grades in Microsoft Excel
- Moderate live classroom discussion on conservation policy
- Hold office hours and advise student organizations in person
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about forestry professors and AI
Will AI replace forestry professors?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours of a forestry professor go to tasks AI can already do, mostly maintaining attendance records and compiling bibliographies. Field supervision, live discussion, office hours and colleague collaboration stay with people because they need a person in the room.
Which forestry professor tasks is AI taking over first?
Records and course preparation go first. Attendance and grade records score 80 on exposure, and bibliography compilation also scores 80 because search and formatting are structured work. Syllabus and handout drafting scores 70, since routine writing is where AI performs well.
Which forestry professor tasks stay human?
Supervising field and lab work stays human at an exposure score of 10, since it needs physical presence in the forest. Office hours and classroom discussion also score 10, because they depend on live, face-to-face interaction. Collaborating with colleagues scores 12 because it is interpersonal and deliberative.
How can forestry professors stay valuable as AI spreads?
Lead field and lab supervision in person, since no software replaces it. Use ESRI ArcGIS and SAS to teach spatial and inventory analysis that students carry into jobs. Review every AI-drafted syllabus, exam and grade in Microsoft Word and Excel before release, because the instructor must verify and judge.
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