Will political science professors be replaced by AI?
Updated
Political science professors score 45 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 69%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 15% outright, and 16% stays with people.
- 15% AI can do it
- 69% AI helps
- 16% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Higher than 63% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 22 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 15 and leaves 4 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records. Attendance and grade records are routine data entry and tracking. | 78% AI can do it |
| Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts. AI drafts syllabi, handouts and homework quickly; teacher reviews. | 72% AI can do it |
| Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments. AI compiles reading lists quickly; citations need checking for accuracy. | 70% AI can do it |
| Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers. AI can grade written work against rubrics and draft feedback. | 55% AI helps |
| Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others. AI writes exam questions and grades most answers; teacher reviews. | 55% AI helps |
| Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction. AI can draft and critique curricula and materials; teacher decides. | 50% AI helps |
| Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks. AI compares textbook options and handles ordering; choice needs judgement. | 50% AI helps |
| Write grant proposals to procure external research funding. AI drafts proposal text and budgets; funding fit stays human. | 48% AI helps |
| Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as classical political thought, international relations, and democracy and citizenship. AI drafts lecture outlines; live delivery stays with the teacher. | 40% AI helps |
| Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media. AI speeds literature review and drafting; original research stays human. | 40% AI helps |
Show the other 12 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences. AI summarizes papers; reading, networking and conferences stay human. | 35% AI helps |
| Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues. AI answers routine policy questions; personal career advice stays human. | 30% AI helps |
| Provide professional consulting services to government or industry. AI aids research and briefs; expert judgement stays human. | 30% AI helps |
| Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work. Mentoring and supervision are interpersonal; AI only helps with paperwork. | 25% AI helps |
| Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head. Leadership and people management stay human; AI handles some paperwork. | 25% AI helps |
| Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues. Deliberation is human; AI can draft and summarize policy papers. | 22% AI helps |
| Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues. Collaboration is human; AI can summarize shared notes and drafts. | 20% AI helps |
| Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities. Recruitment events and placement are mostly in person and relational. | 20% AI helps |
| Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students. Scheduled in person advising is live human conversation. | 12% Needs a person |
| Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions. Live discussion needs real time judgement and reading the room. | 10% Needs a person |
| Act as advisers to student organizations. Advising student clubs is in person and relationship based. | 10% Needs a person |
| Participate in campus and community events. Campus and community events need physical presence and social interaction. | 5% Needs a person |
How political science professors compare
All occupations (923)
Educational instruction and library (62)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $98,070 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 16,970 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +2.5% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Verify AI-compiled bibliographies against JSTOR and WorldCat
- Review AI-drafted syllabi and handouts in Microsoft Word
- Check AI-graded essays against rubrics in the LMS
- Moderate live seminar discussion in the classroom
- Run statistical analysis of political data in R
- Hold scheduled in-person office hours for student advising
Safer roles nearby
4 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about political science professors and AI
Will AI replace political science professors?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly maintaining attendance and grade records and preparing course materials such as syllabi. Teaching live discussion, advising students in office hours, and mentoring students stay with professors because they need a person present and judging in real time.
Which tasks is AI taking over for political science professors?
AI takes over record keeping, syllabus drafting, and reading lists. Maintaining attendance and grade records scores 78 on exposure, the highest in this job, because it is routine data entry. Compiling bibliographies scores 70, so the professor only checks citations for accuracy.
Which tasks stay human for political science professors?
Classroom discussion, office hours, and student club advising stay with professors. Initiating and moderating discussions scores 10 on exposure, and scheduled office hours score 12, because live judgement and face-to-face conversation need a person in the room.
How can political science professors stay valuable as AI grows?
Spend the hours AI frees on work that needs a person. Check every AI-drafted syllabus and exam against course goals in Word, verify each citation in JSTOR, grade essays with written feedback, and run seminars and office hours in person.
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Next steps for political science professors
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