Will principals be replaced by AI?
Updated
Principals score 44 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 76%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 8% outright, and 16% stays with people.
- 8% AI can do it
- 76% AI helps
- 16% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Higher than 60% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 32 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 24 and leaves 5 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Write articles, manuals, and other publications, and assist in the distribution of promotional literature about facilities and programs. Writing manuals, articles, and promotional text is core language AI work. | 80% AI can do it |
| Prepare, maintain, or oversee the preparation and maintenance of attendance, activity, planning, or personnel reports and records. Report and record preparation is structured, repetitive digital work AI handles well. | 75% AI can do it |
| Collect and analyze survey data, regulatory information, and data on demographic and employment trends to forecast enrollment patterns and curriculum change needs. AI can analyze survey and demographic data and draft forecasts for review. | 65% AI can do it |
| Create school improvement plans, using student performance data. AI can draft improvement plans from performance data, with leaders reviewing. | 60% AI helps |
| Prepare and submit budget requests and recommendations, or grant proposals to solicit program funding. AI can draft budget requests and grant proposals, with staff refining them. | 60% AI helps |
| Plan and develop instructional methods and content for educational, vocational, or student activity programs. AI can generate lesson content and methods, with educators adapting them. | 60% AI helps |
| Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements. AI can draft course schedules and descriptions, then staff review staffing needs. | 55% AI helps |
| Evaluate curricula, teaching methods, and programs to determine their effectiveness, efficiency, and use, and to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. AI can analyze program data and check compliance, with staff judging results. | 55% AI helps |
| Review and interpret government codes, and develop programs to ensure adherence to codes and facility safety, security, and maintenance. AI can interpret codes and review documents, but facility safety needs inspection. | 50% AI helps |
| Collaborate with teachers to develop and maintain curriculum standards, develop mission statements, and set performance goals and objectives. AI can draft standards and goals, while teachers shape the content. | 40% AI helps |
Show the other 22 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Plan and lead professional development activities for teachers, administrators, and support staff. AI can draft training content, but leading sessions is in person. | 40% AI helps |
| Set educational standards and goals, and help establish policies and procedures to carry them out. AI can draft policies and procedures, but leaders set goals and approve them. | 40% AI helps |
| Determine allocations of funds for staff, supplies, materials, and equipment, and authorize purchases. AI can analyze spending and flag issues, but officials authorize purchases. | 40% AI helps |
| Review and approve new programs, or recommend modifications to existing programs, submitting program proposals for school board approval as necessary. AI can draft program proposals, but board approval stays with people. | 40% AI helps |
| Establish, coordinate, and oversee particular programs across school districts, such as programs to evaluate student academic achievement. AI can analyze achievement data and draft oversight plans, with people deciding. | 40% AI helps |
| Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff. AI can screen resumes and draft postings, but interviews and hiring stay human. | 35% AI helps |
| Meet with federal, state, and local agencies to stay abreast of policies and to discuss improvements for education programs. AI can summarize policy updates, but agency meetings require people. | 35% AI helps |
| Plan, coordinate, and oversee school logistics programs, such as bus and food services. AI can optimize routes and schedules, but bus and food operations are physical. | 35% AI helps |
| Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems. AI can prepare briefs and summaries, but meetings stay led by people. | 30% AI helps |
| Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement. AI can review materials, but classroom observation requires being present. | 30% AI helps |
| Organize and direct committees of specialists, volunteers, and staff to provide technical and advisory assistance for programs. AI can draft agendas and materials, but committees need human leadership. | 30% AI helps |
| Direct and coordinate activities of teachers, administrators, and support staff at schools, public agencies, and institutions. Coordination is mostly people work, with AI helping with routine messages. | 25% AI helps |
| Participate in special education-related activities, such as attending meetings and providing support to special educators throughout the district. AI can help with paperwork, but special education meetings need human presence. | 25% AI helps |
| Recommend personnel actions related to programs and services. AI can summarize performance, but personnel recommendations carry human accountability. | 25% AI helps |
| Advocate for new schools to be built, or for existing facilities to be repaired or remodeled. AI can draft proposals and talking points, but advocacy needs people. | 25% AI helps |
| Develop partnerships with businesses, communities, and other organizations to help meet identified educational needs and to provide school-to-work programs. Partnership building is relationship driven, with AI helping with outreach drafts. | 25% AI helps |
| Direct and coordinate school maintenance services and the use of school facilities. AI can schedule facility use, but maintenance oversight is physical work. | 20% AI helps |
| Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues. Live student counseling depends on trust and in person judgement. | 15% Needs a person |
| Enforce discipline and attendance rules. Enforcing discipline is interpersonal, though attendance tracking can be automated. | 15% Needs a person |
| Teach classes or courses to students. Live classroom teaching requires in person presence and human interaction. | 15% Needs a person |
| Coordinate and direct extracurricular activities and programs, such as after-school events and athletic contests. Directing athletics and events is physical, on site supervision work. | 15% Needs a person |
| Mentor and support administrative staff members, such as superintendents and principals. Mentoring leaders relies on relationships and personal judgement. | 15% Needs a person |
How principals compare
All occupations (923)
Management (56)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $105,870 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 328,330 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- -0.3% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Hold state principal or school administrator licensure
- Build budget requests in Microsoft Excel and grant proposals in Word
- Run enrollment forecasts in IBM SPSS Statistics or SAS
- Audit AI-drafted attendance and personnel reports in SIS software
- Lead staff review of AI-drafted school improvement plans
- Conduct in-person discipline hearings and student counseling sessions
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about principals and AI
Will AI replace principals?
Partly. About 4 in 10 of a principal's working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly writing publications and preparing attendance, activity, and personnel reports. Counseling, discipline, and staff mentoring stay with people.
Which principal tasks is AI taking over?
Writing publications and promotional literature scores highest, with an exposure score of 80, since drafting text is core language work AI handles well. Attendance, activity, and personnel reports follow at 75, because they use structured, repetitive formats. Enrollment forecasts from survey and demographic data score 65, with the principal checking the output before it is used.
Which principal tasks stay human?
Counseling students on personal, academic, or behavioral issues stays with people, since it depends on trust and in-person judgment. Enforcing discipline is also interpersonal, and directing on-site events like athletic contests needs a person physically present.
How can principals stay valuable as AI takes over more work?
Spend the hours AI frees on counseling, discipline hearings, and staff mentoring. Keep the review step by checking AI-drafted budget requests and improvement plans against source data in Excel, and audit enrollment forecasts from SPSS or SAS before they reach the district.
Related jobs
Next steps for principals
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.
Related topics
- Jobs AI can't replaceCement masons score lowest, at 8.
- Jobs most at risk from AIProofreaders score highest, at 76.
- High-paying jobs with low AI exposureRadiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.
- Entry-level jobs with low AI exposureCement masons need little prior training and score 8.
- Jobs AI speeds up the mostFor natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.
- AI and jobs in Malta15 iGaming roles graded task by task.
- Skills that keep work humanThe skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.
- Jobs A to ZEvery job we publish, by first letter.
- AI exposure by industryAverage scores for 22 occupation groups.
- Write a CV screening software can readHow applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.
- AI for businessesThe tasks to automate first in each team and industry.
- How we score AI exposureThe grading, the weights and every source.