Will human factors engineers be replaced by AI?
Updated
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 |
| Design cognitive aids, such as procedural storyboards or decision support systems. AI generates storyboard and decision aid drafts; validation needs users. | 55% AI helps |
| Apply modeling or quantitative analysis to forecast events, such as human decisions or behaviors, the structure or processes of organizations, or the attitudes or actions of human groups. AI can run forecasting models; behavior forecasts need expert interpretation. | 55% AI helps |
| Establish system operating or training requirements to ensure optimized human-machine interfaces. AI drafts requirements and training specs; engineers set final needs. | 50% AI helps |
| Develop or implement research methodologies or statistical analysis plans to test and evaluate developmental prototypes used in new products or processes, such as cockpit designs, user workstations, or computerized human models. AI drafts analysis plans and code; design choices stay human. | 50% AI helps |
| Investigate theoretical or conceptual issues, such as the human design considerations of lunar landers or habitats. AI synthesizes literature well; conceptual framing needs expert judgment. | 50% AI helps |
Show the other 16 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Conduct research to evaluate potential solutions related to changes in equipment design, procedures, manpower, personnel, or training. AI speeds literature review and analysis; studies need human oversight. | 45% AI helps |
| Develop or implement human performance research, investigation, or analysis protocols. AI can draft protocols; implementation and oversight stay human. | 45% AI helps |
| Estimate time or resource requirements for ergonomic or human factors research or development projects. AI drafts estimates from past projects; context needs people. | 45% AI helps |
| Analyze complex systems to determine potential for further development, production, interoperability, compatibility, or usefulness in a particular area, such as aviation. AI helps scan systems and compare options; judgment stays expert. | 45% AI helps |
| Conduct interviews or surveys of users or customers to collect information on topics, such as requirements, needs, fatigue, ergonomics, or interfaces. AI drafts surveys and summarizes answers; live interviews stay human. | 40% AI helps |
| Design or evaluate human work systems, using human factors engineering and ergonomic principles to optimize usability, cost, quality, safety, or performance. Design judgment and tradeoffs remain human; AI speeds analysis. | 40% AI helps |
| Recommend workplace changes to improve health and safety, using knowledge of potentially harmful factors, such as heavy loads or repetitive motions. AI lists known hazards; recommendations need site judgment. | 35% AI helps |
| Perform functional, task, or anthropometric analysis, using tools, such as checklists, surveys, videotaping, or force measurement. AI codes video and checklist data; measurements stay manual. | 35% AI helps |
| Train users in task techniques or ergonomic principles. AI builds training materials; live coaching stays in person. | 30% AI helps |
| Provide human factors technical expertise on topics, such as advanced user-interface technology development or the role of human users in automated or autonomous sub-systems in advanced vehicle systems. Expert judgment on human roles is hard to automate. | 30% AI helps |
| Integrate human factors requirements into operational hardware. Hardware integration is mostly physical; AI aids requirements tracing. | 25% AI helps |
| Provide technical support to clients through activities, such as rearranging workplace fixtures to reduce physical hazards or discomfort or modifying task sequences to reduce cycle time. Moving fixtures is physical work; AI only helps plan sequences. | 20% Needs a person |
| Collect data through direct observation of work activities or witnessing the conduct of tests. Needs on-site presence to watch work and tests. | 18% Needs a person |
| Advocate for end users in collaboration with other professionals, including engineers, designers, managers, or customers. Persuading teams and advocating for users is interpersonal work. | 15% Needs a person |
| Inspect work sites to identify physical hazards. Walking sites and spotting hazards needs physical presence. | 12% Needs a person |
| Operate testing equipment, such as heat stress meters, octave band analyzers, motion analysis equipment, inclinometers, light meters, thermoanemometers, sling psychrometers, or colorimetric detection tubes. Hands-on instrument use in the field needs physical presence. | 5% Needs a person |
How human factors engineers compare
All jobs (923)
Architecture and engineering (56)
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.
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.
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