Will AI Replace Information Clerks? What the Data Actually Shows

72%. That is the automation rate for one of the most common tasks information clerks perform every day — answering inquiries by phone and email. If you work in this role, that number probably does not surprise you. You have already seen chatbots and automated response systems creeping into your workplace. But what does the full picture really look like?

Let us walk through what the data says about the future of information clerks — and what it means for the roughly 162,400 people currently working in this field across the United States.

The Numbers Behind the Headlines

According to our analysis based on the Anthropic labor market report, information clerks currently have an overall AI exposure of 58% and an automation risk of 48% as of 2025. [Fact] That is notably higher than the average across all occupations, placing this role in the "high exposure" category alongside roles like data entry keyers and switchboard operators. The mode of AI use matters as much as the exposure level. The Anthropic Economic Index (January 2026) finds that across the economy, automation interactions — where a task is fully delegated to AI — now account for about 45% of consumer usage, while augmentation, where humans iterate alongside AI, holds the slim majority at 52% [Fact] (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026). For information clerks, the routine inquiry-handling tasks fall on the automation side of that line, while the judgment-heavy exceptions fall on the augmentation side — which is exactly why the role is transforming rather than vanishing.

But here is where it gets interesting. There is a significant gap between what AI _could_ theoretically do and what it is _actually_ doing right now. The theoretical exposure sits at 78%, but observed real-world exposure is only 39%. [Fact] That gap represents a kind of buffer — the difference between technology that exists in a lab and technology that workplaces have actually deployed.

That 39-point gap is not just an abstract number. It is the breathing room you have to adapt before the full force of automation reaches your day-to-day work. Companies do not deploy AI the moment it becomes technically capable. They wait until it becomes reliable enough that the cost of failures is acceptable. They wait until customer tolerance for AI interactions catches up. They wait until their systems can integrate cleanly. All of those delays buy you time.

By 2028, projections show overall exposure climbing to 72% and automation risk reaching 62%. [Estimate] That is a steep trajectory, but it does not mean the job vanishes. It means the job transforms. Three years is enough time to acquire new skills, shift specializations, or reposition yourself into the parts of the role that AI cannot touch.

Which Tasks Are Most at Risk?

Not all parts of this job face the same level of disruption. The variance between tasks is enormous, and understanding it is the difference between strategic adaptation and panicked reaction.

Responding to inquiries via phone and email carries the highest automation rate at 72%. [Fact] Think about it — AI-powered chatbots, automated email responders, and voice assistants can already handle a large share of routine questions. When someone calls to ask about office hours, return policies, or appointment availability, AI handles that increasingly well. The latest generation of conversational AI can not only answer the question but also detect the caller's tone, recognize frustration, and decide whether to escalate to a human.

Maintaining information databases comes in at 58% automation. [Fact] Data entry, record updates, and database management are exactly the kinds of structured, repetitive tasks where AI excels. Many organizations have already moved to automated data synchronization and AI-assisted record keeping. CRM platforms now ingest information from emails, call transcripts, and forms automatically, eliminating much of the manual entry that used to occupy clerks' afternoons.

Scheduling appointments and managing calendars sits at about 55% automation. [Fact] AI scheduling assistants — the kind that can negotiate meeting times across multiple parties, account for time zones, and avoid conflicts — have become genuinely useful. Tools like Microsoft Copilot, Google's appointment scheduling, and dedicated services like Reclaim or Motion have taken over a substantial share of what used to be a clerk's role.

But here is the counterweight. The task with the lowest automation rate? Directing visitors and providing in-person directions, at just 25%. [Fact] Physical presence, reading body language, and handling the unpredictable nature of face-to-face interactions still belong firmly in human territory. This is the part of the role where your human judgment matters most.

Handling complaints and resolving escalated customer issues sits at around 32% automation. [Fact] When a customer's problem cannot be solved by the standard chatbot flow — when there are special circumstances, emotional weight, or ambiguity about what they actually need — AI handoff still goes to a human. The complexity ceiling for autonomous AI customer service is still meaningfully below what experienced clerks handle daily.

Coordinating between departments and managing exceptions also remains stubbornly human, at about 30% automation. The interpersonal politics, the institutional knowledge about who actually has authority to approve what, the ability to read whether a request is genuinely urgent or just framed that way — these skills do not show up in any training dataset.

The Bigger Picture: A Declining Field

Here is where the situation gets more concerning. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects overall employment of information clerks to decline 3% from 2024 to 2034, even though about 149,200 openings are projected each year — almost all of them to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force [Fact] (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024). Information clerks held roughly 1.3 million jobs in 2024, and the median annual wage was $43,730 as of May 2024 [Fact]. The combination is challenging: rising automation pressure on a field that is already contracting, even as steady replacement demand keeps the door open for new entrants.

The decline is not uniform across industries. Information clerk roles in traditional sectors — administrative offices, government agencies, basic customer service centers — are contracting fastest. But specialized roles in healthcare information desks, financial institution lobbies, and academic admissions offices are declining more slowly because they involve more judgment, more nuance, and more human contact that customers expect.

That said, declining does not mean disappearing. Even in 2034, there will still be well over 150,000 information clerk positions. The role is shifting from pure information delivery — which AI does efficiently — toward a more nuanced position that blends customer service judgment with technology management.

Think of it this way: the information clerks of 2015 spent most of their time being the _primary_ answer to customer questions. The information clerks of 2028 will spend most of their time being the _escalation point_ when AI cannot handle the question. The job is moving up the complexity ladder, not disappearing from it.

What This Means for Your Career

If you are reading this and feeling anxious, that is a reasonable response to the data. But anxiety is not a strategy. Here is what the numbers actually suggest about positioning yourself.

First, the 28% of inquiries that AI cannot handle is where the durable work lives. [Claim] These are the calls and emails that involve unusual circumstances, emotional weight, complex problem-solving, or judgment calls about exceptions to policy. The information clerks who survive the transition will be the ones who can confidently handle those situations and explain to AI systems how to handle similar ones in the future.

Second, the role is increasingly hybrid. You are not just answering questions anymore — you are also supervising the AI systems that answer questions. That means understanding when the chatbot is giving wrong answers, identifying patterns of customer frustration, and feeding insights back to the people who configure the AI. This kind of "human-in-the-loop" supervisory work is growing across many occupations, and information clerks are well-positioned to take it on if they develop the technical literacy.

Third, lateral moves matter. The skills you have built — managing information, handling difficult customers, navigating institutional bureaucracy — translate well into customer experience management, CRM administration, basic data analytics, and even junior knowledge management roles. The job title may be shrinking, but the underlying skills are still in demand if you know how to repackage them.

What You Can Do Right Now

If you are an information clerk today, the smartest move is not to fear AI but to position yourself alongside it. The data shows this is a "mixed" automation mode role, meaning some tasks get automated while others get augmented. [Fact] Workers who learn to manage AI tools — supervising chatbot responses, handling escalated inquiries that AI cannot resolve, and ensuring database accuracy — will find themselves more valuable, not less.

Consider building skills in customer experience management, CRM platforms like Salesforce or HubSpot, and basic data analytics. Free or low-cost training is widely available — your employer may even pay for it if you frame the request as helping the organization adopt AI more effectively. The information clerks who thrive in 2028 will not be the ones competing with chatbots on speed. They will be the ones handling the 28% of interactions that require human empathy, complex problem-solving, and judgment that no algorithm can replicate.

If you have the bandwidth, also consider building a specialty. Generalist information clerks are the most exposed. Clerks who specialize in healthcare, legal, financial services, or government — domains where regulations and the cost of errors are high — have stronger long-term positioning. The combination of specialized domain knowledge and AI fluency is much more defensible than either skill alone. This tracks with the OECD's broader read on generative AI: exposure is concentrated among clerical and administrative-support occupations, yet the OECD stresses that exposure is not destiny — across all automation technologies, only about 27% of jobs sit in the highest-risk band, and adaptation through reskilling consistently softens the impact [Fact] (OECD, AI and Work, 2024).

Finally, do not underestimate the value of staying. If your current employer is investing in AI tools, you are already in a better position than someone trying to learn this from outside. You see how the tools fail, what kinds of customer interactions they cannot handle, and where the gaps are. That insider knowledge becomes career capital if you can articulate it clearly to managers and recruiters.

What the Industry Looks Like by Sector

The information clerk role is not monolithic — it varies meaningfully by industry, and the automation timelines vary accordingly. Receptionists in corporate office buildings face heavy pressure from automated check-in kiosks, visitor management apps, and AI phone routing. The role is contracting fastest in mid-sized to large enterprises with sophisticated facility management programs.

Government agency information clerks face slower automation, partly because public-sector technology adoption tends to lag the private sector and partly because the constituents these clerks serve often include people who cannot effectively navigate AI interfaces. Court clerks, motor vehicle division information clerks, and social services information clerks are all areas where human staffing has held up better than the broader trend.

Healthcare information clerks — including the patient services representatives and hospital information desk staff — face a mixed picture. Routine appointment scheduling has heavily automated, but the more complex roles involving insurance navigation, patient advocacy, and care coordination remain relatively stable. Workers who can position themselves into healthcare information roles tend to have better employment stability than those in pure general office settings.

Hospitality and customer service desk roles in hotels, retail, and entertainment venues face significant automation but at a slower pace than corporate offices. The human touch is still expected by customers in many service contexts, and businesses that automate too aggressively often see customer satisfaction scores drop in ways that hurt their reputation. The trade-off between cost savings and customer experience creates a more sustainable equilibrium for human staffing in these sectors.

For a full breakdown of task-level automation data for this occupation, visit the information clerks detail page.

---

AI-assisted analysis based on the Anthropic economic impact report (2026), BLS occupational projections, and ONET task classifications.\*