# Will AI replace instructional designers? Updated October 2026 Instructional designers score 58 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 82%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 16% outright, and 2% stays with people. - **16%** AI can do it - **82%** AI helps - **2%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 88% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 20 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 16 and leaves 1 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Obtain, organize, or develop training procedure manuals, guides, or course materials, such as handouts or visual materials. Drafting manuals and course materials is strong AI territory. | 80% AI can do it | | Schedule classes based on availability of classrooms, equipment, or instructors. Scheduling software handles room and instructor availability well. | 70% AI can do it | | Monitor training costs and prepare budget reports to justify expenditures. Budget tracking and report drafting are highly automatable. | 65% AI can do it | | Keep up with developments in area of expertise by reading current journals, books, or magazine articles. AI summarizes articles quickly; the learner still judges relevance. | 62% AI helps | | Monitor, evaluate, or record training activities or program effectiveness. AI can log and analyze results; person judges effectiveness. | 60% AI helps | [See what AI can take on across an HR team](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/hr/) ## How instructional designers compare All occupations (923) Business and financial operations (48) **Instructional designers score 58**, 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 55 for business and financial operations. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $69,280 a year, May 2025 People employed 458,300 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +10.8% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Run needs analysis interviews with department managers before drafting - Build training cost reports and ROI models in Microsoft Excel - Publish and track courses in a learning management system LMS - Plan project timelines and milestones in Microsoft Project - Facilitate live sessions with role plays, simulations and group discussions - Hold the ATD Certified Professional in Learning and Performance credential ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Training managers53 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/training-managers/) - [Management consultants55 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/management-consultants/) - [Industrial-organizational psychologists53 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industrial-organizational-psychologists/) - [Career counselors49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/career-counselors/) - [Vocational instructors47 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/vocational-instructors/) ## Questions about instructional designers and AI Will instructional designers be replaced by AI? Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours of an instructional designer's job go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting course materials and scheduling classes. Facilitation, contract negotiation, and choosing which instructors teach stay with people because they need judgement about people in the room. Which tasks is AI taking over for instructional designers? Drafting training manuals, handouts and course materials carries the highest exposure at 80, since AI can produce visual materials from an outline. Scheduling classes against room and instructor availability scores 70, and budget tracking with report drafting scores 65. Which tasks stay human for instructional designers? Referring trainees to placement or social services scores lowest at 18, because it depends on judgement about a person's circumstances. Negotiating contracts with clients scores 22, since live negotiation remains with the designer. Selecting instructors and devising executive development programs score 30, because matching people to needs takes human judgement. How can instructional designers stay valuable? Keep the tasks that need judgement. Run needs analysis interviews before any course is drafted, facilitate live sessions, and measure whether training changed performance. Use the LMS and Excel to track results, and hold the ATD CPLP credential to back your method. ## Related jobs - [Instructional coordinators59 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/instructional-coordinators/) - [High school CTE teachers35 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-school-cte-teachers/) - [Recruiters62 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/recruiters/) - [Education professors52 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/education-professors/) ## Next steps for instructional designers - ### 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/) - ### Pay transparency software The EU Pay Transparency Directive means sharing pay ranges before interviews and reporting pay gaps. Our HR software helps you do both from the pay data you already hold. [See the HR software](https://www.aigentcy.com/contact/?topic=pay-transparency) ### 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.