# Will political scientists be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Political scientists score 62 out of 100 for AI exposure. AI helps with 93% of their task time, and they stay in charge. The other 7% needs a person. - **93%** AI helps - **7%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 93% of the 923 jobs we scored. ## Task by task We graded 14 tasks, most exposed first. AI can't fully do any of them yet. It helps with 13 and leaves 1 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Write drafts of legislative proposals, and prepare speeches, correspondence, and policy papers for governmental use. AI drafts speeches, correspondence and policy papers well, with human editing. | 75% AI helps | | Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations. AI can read and analyze legislation and policy documents quickly. | 70% AI helps | | Maintain current knowledge of government policy decisions. AI can summarize policy news quickly, but verification stays with the researcher. | 65% AI helps | | Collect, analyze, and interpret data, such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions. AI can run and explain survey and election data analysis, with expert oversight. | 65% AI helps | | Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations. AI drafts papers and reports well, but authors take responsibility for claims and presentations. | 60% AI helps | ## How political scientists compare All jobs (923) Life, physical and social science (60) The dark line is **political scientists, at 62**. 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 life, physical and social science. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $142,080 a year, May 2025 People employed 5,540 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-2.0% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Run survey weighting and regression models in R - Analyze election returns and polling data in Python - Fit statistical models in SAS or IBM SPSS Statistics - Build evaluation dashboards and charts in Microsoft PowerPoint - Verify policy claims against primary legislative sources - Mentor political science students through thesis supervision ## Safer roles nearby 5 related jobs with lower scores. - [Political science professors45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/political-science-professors/) - [Sociologists51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/sociologists/) - [Economists58 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/economists/) - [Law professors45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/law-professors/) - [Legislators37 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/legislators/) ## Questions about political scientists and AI Will AI replace political scientists? Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting policy papers and speeches and analyzing legislation and policy documents. Designing research questions, verifying claims, advising officials and defending findings in person stay with political scientists. Which political science tasks is AI taking over? Drafting is the most exposed task, with a score of 75 out of 100 for writing legislative proposals, speeches, correspondence and policy papers. AI also reads and summarizes legislation and policy news quickly, scoring 70 and 65, so the first pass at analysis and literature review shifts to software. Which political science tasks stay human? Serving on committees has the lowest exposure at 15 out of 100, because deliberation depends on in-person relationships and institutional accountability. Advising officials and parties scores 30, since it relies on live dialogue and trust, and media commentary scores 35 because live appearances need a human expert. How can political scientists stay valuable as AI takes over drafting? Take responsibility for the statistical work and the claims. Run survey and election models in R, Python, SAS or IBM SPSS Statistics, check every AI summary against primary legislative text, and take responsibility for recommendations in evaluations. Build the reputation that officials and editors trust for the final word. ## Related jobs - [Sociology professors44 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/sociology-professors/) - [Climate change policy analysts58 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/climate-change-policy-analysts/) - [Economics professors45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/economics-professors/) - [Environmental economists60 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/environmental-economists/) ## Next steps for political scientists - ### 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 political scientists, and what they cost. [Estimate what AI saves a team of political scientists](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/team-ai-audit/?role=political-scientists) [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.