# Will AI replace sales jobs? Updated October 2026 Sales representatives score 63 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 53%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 32% outright, and 15% stays with people. - **32%** AI can do it - **53%** AI helps - **15%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 94% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 18 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 6 of them today, speeds up 9 and leaves 3 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Forward orders to manufacturers. Order routing to manufacturers is straightforward system integration work. | 80% AI can do it | | Perform administrative duties, such as preparing sales budgets and reports, keeping sales records, and filing expense account reports. Reports, budgets and expense records are well suited to AI. | 75% AI can do it | | Prepare sales contracts and order forms. Contract and order form drafting from templates is highly automatable. | 70% AI can do it | | Check stock levels and reorder merchandise as necessary. Stock checks and reorders run through inventory software readily. | 70% AI can do it | | Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, product uses, and credit terms. AI answers routine product, price and availability questions quickly. | 65% AI can do it | [See what AI can take on across a sales team](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/sales/) ## How sales representatives compare All occupations (923) Sales and related (22) **Sales representatives score 63**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 54 for sales and related. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $72,080 a year, May 2025 People employed 1.2 million in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-0.9% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Negotiate contract terms and payment schedules face to face with buyers - Supervise delivery and installation of equipment at customer sites - Build store displays and recommend shelf placement to retail buyers - Verify AI-summarized competitor pricing before it reaches management - Resolve post-sale account problems in live Cisco Webex sessions ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Technical sales representatives60 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/technical-sales-representatives/) - [Buyers51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/buyers/) - [Agricultural buyers48 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/agricultural-buyers/) - [Advertising sales agents61 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/advertising-sales-agents/) - [Sales engineers57 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/sales-engineers/) ## Questions about sales representatives and AI Will sales be replaced by AI? Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly forwarding orders to manufacturers and administrative duties like sales reports, budgets and expense records. Negotiating terms, showing samples and building store displays stay with people. Will AI take over sales jobs? AI can already do 32% of the task time in sales and speeds up another 53%. People still do 15% of it. The US has 1.2 million sales representative jobs, with a projected change of -0.9% from 2024 to 2034. Which tasks is AI taking over for sales representatives? Forwarding orders to manufacturers, checking stock and reordering, and preparing sales contracts and order forms carry the highest exposure. Order routing is system integration work, and inventory software can run stock reorders. Contract drafting from templates is highly automatable. Which tasks stay human for sales representatives? Providing product samples and catalogs, negotiating shelf placement with retail merchants, and building store displays stay human, with exposure between 15 and 20. Shipping physical samples and building displays need someone on site, and shelf negotiation is live bargaining with buyers. How can sales representatives stay valuable? Negotiate contract terms and payment schedules live, since AI can only prepare the scenarios. Use Cisco Webex to resolve post-sale problems and Adobe Acrobat to check signed order forms. Verify AI-summarized competitor pricing before it reaches management. Stay on site for delivery, installation and store displays. ## Related jobs - [Sales representatives of services66 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/sales-representatives-of-services/) - [Sales managers45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/sales-managers/) - [Purchasing managers51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/purchasing-managers/) - [Procurement clerks65 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/procurement-clerks/) ## Next steps for sales representatives - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your 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/) ### 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**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](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**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](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 publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation 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/) 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.