Job Check
Office Clerks, General
Perform duties too varied and diverse to be classified in any specific office clerical occupation, requiring knowledge of office systems and procedures. Clerical duties may be assigned in accordance with the office procedures of individual establishments and may include a combination of answering telephones, bookkeeping, typing or word processing, office machine operation, and filing.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers.Mostly human for now
- 02Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages.People already use AI for this at work
- 03Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints.People already use AI for this at work
- 04Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.AI could speed this up a lot
- 05Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.People already use AI for this at work
- 06Review files, records, and other documents to obtain information to respond to requests.People already use AI for this at work
- 07Open, sort, and route incoming mail, answer correspondence, and prepare outgoing mail.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 08Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.AI could speed this up a lot
- 09Complete work schedules, manage calendars, and arrange appointments.People already use AI for this at work
- 10Type, format, proofread, and edit correspondence and other documents, from notes or dictating machines, using computers or typewriters.AI could speed this up a lot
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss45%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
58%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 78% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 67% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers.