Will AI replace Public Safety Telecommunicators?
Office and Administrative Support · O*NET 43-5031.00
Task exposure index for this occupation
Averaged across the week, this work sits in the middle of the exposure scale: a real part of it is already automatable and a real part is not. O*NET breaks Public Safety Telecommunicators into 19 distinct work activities. Weighted by how much of the week each one takes, 37% of the job sits at or above the threshold where current systems can do the task end to end. The single largest contributor is "Maintain call records", which scores 95 and takes roughly 11% of the week. That is the average for the job title. It is not a measurement of any particular person’s week, and the difference between the two is usually larger than the difference between job titles.
Model v1.2 · activity indices last updated 18 August 2026
What this occupation does
Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers. Take information from the public and other sources regarding crimes, threats, disturbances, acts of terrorism, fires, medical emergencies, and other public safety matters. May coordinate and provide information to law enforcement and emergency response personnel. May access sensitive databases and other information sources as needed. May provide additional instructions to callers based on knowledge of and certification in law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical procedures.
The most exposed parts of the job
Scored 0–100 on how completely a current system could perform the activity.
- Maintain call records.95
About 11% of a typical week
- Search files, databases or reference materials to obtain needed information.90
About 3% of a typical week
- Enter information into databases or software programs.82
About 3% of a typical week
- Discuss goods or services information with customers or patrons.68
About 7% of a typical week
- Maintain current knowledge related to work activities.66
About 6% of a typical week
The least exposed parts
The same scale. These are the activities current systems handle worst.
- Maintain security.14
About 6% of a typical week
- Adjust office equipment to ensure proper operation.16
About 1% of a typical week
- Provide basic health care services.18
About 6% of a typical week
- Refer customers to appropriate personnel.18
About 3% of a typical week
- Operate vehicles or material-moving equipment.18
About 2% of a typical week
How far off the rest is
Of those 19 activities, 3 can be performed by systems available today and 7 are outside what current approaches do at all. The remaining 9 sit in between — demonstrated in research or in narrow products, but not something you can hand over whole. We do not put dates on that middle group, because nobody can.
Compared with similar occupations
The nearest scoring roles in Office and Administrative Support.
- Public Safety Telecommunicators (this page)48
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers48
- Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks49
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks49
Why your own number is different
Two people with the title "Public Safety Telecommunicators" can spend their weeks on almost entirely different parts of this list, and the parts they choose move the number far more than the title does. Who signs off when the work is wrong, whether the job needs you physically present, and how fast you have picked up the tools all change it again — and none of that is in an occupation average.
The assessment asks you to divide your own week across these activities and answer fourteen questions about the parts of the job an occupation average cannot see. It takes six to nine minutes.
Score my own roleFree to take. The full report is a paid subscription — the price and its terms are on the pricing section, before you start.
Questions
Will AI replace Public Safety Telecommunicators?
We do not answer that, because nobody can. What is measurable is how much of the work is already doable by machine: for Public Safety Telecommunicators, about 37% of a typical week, across 19 activities. The other 63% is not, and what happens to the job depends on things this index does not contain — cost, regulation, who carries the liability, and what the people doing it decide to do next.
What part of this job is most exposed?
"Maintain call records" — it scores 95 out of 100 on task automatability and takes roughly 11% of the week.
What part is least exposed?
"Maintain security", at 14 out of 100. Work like that is where the hours you protect tend to be worth the most.
Where do these numbers come from?
The activity list and the time weights come from O*NET 30.3, the US Department of Labor's occupational database. The exposure score for each activity is ours, from a published model — the weights, the priors and the limitations are all on the methodology page. No language model is involved in the arithmetic.
Does this apply to my job?
Only roughly. This is the average for the title, and the number that matters is the one for the week you actually work. The assessment asks you to divide your own time across these activities and answer fourteen questions about accountability, the parts of the job that need you specifically, and how fast you have adapted. That produces a different number, and usually a more useful one.
The full model — the weights, the priors and what it cannot see — is on the methodology page.