Will historians be replaced by AI?
Updated
Historians score 51 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 66%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 10% outright, and 24% stays with people.
- 10% AI can do it
- 66% AI helps
- 24% Needs a person
High exposure
Higher than 77% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 21 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 13 and leaves 5 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Translate or request translation of reference materials. AI translates reference texts well, specialist spot-checks the output. | 70% AI can do it |
| Organize information for publication and for other means of dissemination, such as via storage media or the Internet. Formatting, metadata and web organization are routine digital work. | 60% AI can do it |
| Edit historical society publications. Copyediting and text revision are strong AI tasks, editor reviews. | 60% AI can do it |
| Present historical accounts in terms of individuals or social, ethnic, political, economic, or geographic groupings. AI drafts group-based narratives well, historian shapes interpretation. | 55% AI helps |
| Research the history of a particular country or region, or of a specific time period. AI synthesizes published regional histories quickly, with verification needed. | 55% AI helps |
| Research and prepare manuscripts in support of public programming and the development of exhibits at historic sites, museums, libraries, and archives. AI drafts exhibit and program text, curators refine and verify. | 55% AI helps |
| Trace historical development in a particular field, such as social, cultural, political, or diplomatic history. AI synthesizes scholarship on field development, historian checks claims. | 55% AI helps |
| Gather historical data from sources such as archives, court records, diaries, news files, and photographs, as well as from books, pamphlets, and periodicals. AI searches digitized sources, but undigitized archives need in-person work. | 50% AI helps |
| Prepare publications and exhibits, or review those prepared by others, to ensure their historical accuracy. AI can check drafts for accuracy, but the historian signs off. | 50% AI helps |
| Conduct historical research, and publish or present findings and theories. AI speeds literature review and drafting, researcher forms the theses. | 50% AI helps |
Show the other 11 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Organize data, and analyze and interpret its authenticity and relative significance. AI helps sort and summarize sources, but authenticity judgment stays expert. | 45% AI helps |
| Collect detailed information on individuals for use in biographies. AI searches records and drafts biographical summaries, facts need checking. | 45% AI helps |
| Conduct historical research as a basis for the identification, conservation, and reconstruction of historic places and materials. Desk research is AI-assisted, but site assessment needs fieldwork. | 35% AI helps |
| Advise or consult with individuals and institutions regarding issues such as the historical authenticity of materials or the customs of a specific historical period. AI answers general custom questions, specific authenticity advice needs expertise. | 30% AI helps |
| Teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, museums, and other research agencies and schools. Teaching is live and human, AI helps with research and course materials. | 30% AI helps |
| Determine which topics to research, or pursue research topics specified by clients or employers. Topic choice depends on funders, institutions and judgment; AI suggests options. | 25% AI helps |
| Recommend actions related to historical art, such as which items to add to a collection or which items to display in an exhibit. Curatorial choices depend on physical objects and institutional judgment. | 20% Needs a person |
| Coordinate activities of workers engaged in cataloging and filing materials. Supervising staff is people management; AI only assists scheduling. | 20% Needs a person |
| Interview people to gather information about historical events and to record oral histories. Oral history interviews need live rapport; only transcription is automatable. | 15% Needs a person |
| Speak to various groups, organizations, and clubs to promote the aims and activities of historical societies. Live public speaking to groups requires in-person presence. | 10% Needs a person |
| Conserve and preserve manuscripts, records, and other artifacts. Physical conservation of fragile artifacts needs hands-on skill. | 5% Needs a person |
How historians compare
All occupations (923)
Life, physical and social science (60)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $76,750 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 3,450 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +3.0% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Verify AI translations of reference materials against original sources
- Record and transcribe oral history interviews with living witnesses
- Conserve manuscripts and fragile artifacts through hands-on handling
- Query archive databases with structured query language SQL
- Map regional sources and place records in ESRI ArcGIS software
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about historians and AI
Will AI replace historians?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly translating reference materials and organizing information for publication. What stays with people is source judgment, interviews, and conservation, because those tasks need a person with the document or the witness in the room.
Which historian tasks is AI taking over?
Translation of reference materials has an exposure score of 70, the highest in this job. Organizing information for publication, including metadata and web organization, scores 60, as does editing historical society publications, since copyediting is strong AI work and an editor reviews the output. Historians still check each result against the source.
Which historian tasks stay human?
Conserving manuscripts, records, and artifacts scores 5 on exposure, because physical handling of fragile objects needs hands-on skill. Oral history interviews score 15, since live rapport with a witness stays with the interviewer and only transcription is automatable. Speaking to groups for historical societies scores 10 because it needs in-person presence.
How can historians stay valuable as AI takes over tasks?
Take responsibility for the tasks AI handles poorly. Do source criticism on unpublished diaries and letters in Adobe Acrobat, checking every AI summary against the original. Run oral history interviews yourself and keep the recordings. Build datasets from institutional records with SQL and ArcGIS, so your interpretation rests on sources you verified.
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