# Will human factors engineers be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Human factors engineers score 50 out of 100 for AI exposure. AI helps with 67% of their task time, and they stay in charge. AI can do another 12%. 21% needs a person. - **12%** AI can do it - **67%** AI helps - **21%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 75% of the 923 jobs we scored. ## Task by task We graded 26 tasks, most exposed first. AI can do 3 of them, helps with 18 and leaves 5 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Write, review, or comment on documents, such as proposals, test plans, or procedures. Document drafting and review is text work AI handles well. | 70% AI can do it | | Prepare reports or presentations summarizing results or conclusions of human factors engineering or ergonomics activities, such as testing, investigation, or validation. AI drafts reports and slides from results; expert reviews conclusions. | 65% AI can do it | | Review health, safety, accident, or worker compensation records to evaluate safety program effectiveness or to identify jobs with high incidence of injury. AI can scan records and find injury trends quickly. | 65% AI can do it | | Perform statistical analyses, such as social network pattern analysis, network modeling, discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, statistical natural language processing, computational sociology, mathematical optimization, or systems dynamics. AI writes and runs models; experts specify and interpret results. | 65% AI helps | | Assess the user-interface or usability characteristics of products. AI runs heuristic reviews; user testing still needs real people. | 55% AI helps | ## How human factors engineers compare All jobs (923) Architecture and engineering (56) The dark line is **human factors engineers, at 50**. Each dot is a score, and darker dots mean more jobs share it. The short marks are the averages, 37 for all jobs and 47 for architecture and engineering. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $102,440 a year, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +12.4% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Run usability tests with real users and record sessions - Hold the Certified Professional Ergonomist credential - Walk sites and identify physical hazards in person - Specify and interpret simulations in MATLAB or Python - Review AI-drafted test plans and procedures against observed results ## Safer roles nearby 5 related jobs with lower scores. - [Health and safety engineers43 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/health-and-safety-engineers/) - [Validation engineers49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/validation-engineers/) - [Mechatronics engineers48 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mechatronics-engineers/) - [Industrial engineering technicians43 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industrial-engineering-technicians/) - [Mechanical engineering technicians49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mechanical-engineering-technicians/) ## Questions about human factors engineers and AI Will AI replace human factors engineers? Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting and reviewing documents and preparing reports and presentations from test results. What stays with people is on-site testing, hazard inspection, and advocating for users with engineers and managers. Which tasks will AI take from human factors engineers? Document drafting and review is the most exposed task, with an exposure score of 70. AI writes proposals, test plans, and procedures from notes. Report and slide preparation scores 65, because AI drafts slides from test results. Safety record review also scores 65, because AI scans injury logs for trends faster than a person can read them. Which tasks will stay with human factors engineers? Field work stays with people. Operating testing equipment such as heat stress meters and light meters, walking sites to spot physical hazards, and watching work and tests in person all need physical presence. Advocating for end users with engineers, designers, and managers also stays human, since it depends on persuading people. How do human factors engineers stay valuable? Keep the work that needs field evidence and user validation. Run usability tests with real users, record task performance on site, and check every AI-drafted report against your observations. Specify simulations in MATLAB or Python and interpret the results yourself. Draw design changes in AutoCAD or SolidWorks so engineers can trace each requirement. ## Related jobs - [Industrial engineers55 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industrial-engineers/) - [Biomedical engineers56 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/biomedical-engineers/) - [Data scientists67 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/data-scientists/) - [Computer scientists51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/computer-scientists/) ## Next steps for human factors engineers - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV to see which 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/) - ### Estimate team savings The score is per person. Add headcount and salary to see the hours AI can take on in a team of human factors engineers, and what they cost. [Estimate what AI saves a team of human factors engineers](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/team-ai-audit/?role=human-factors-engineers) [Work out the return on automation](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-savings-calculator/) ### 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**Roustabouts score lowest, at 6.](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**Pediatric surgeons earn a median $559,030 and score 29.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Roustabouts need little prior training and score 6.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**AI helps with 98% of the task time for health informatics specialists.](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 score, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 job 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/) Sources and licences 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.