Archivists and curators
A substantial share of tasks can be sped up or taken over by AI. The content of the job will noticeably change — learning is cheapest now.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
🤖 Written with AIThis text was written by artificial intelligence from the data points shown; it is built on verified figures but may contain mistakes.· 13/10/2026How is it made?
With an exposure score of 47/100, archivists and curators will see digital workflows change most. Their broader occupational group is forecast to grow 5.3% by 2035, while human judgment remains central.
What changes
- Automating metadata extraction, indexing and reference-aid preparation for faster collection access
- Using AI to triage electronic records, detect duplicates and support retention workflows
- Drafting preservation assessments and scholarly reports from collection evidence
What stays human
- Authenticating provenance and weighing legal, evidential and historical significance
- Making acquisition decisions that shape representative, ethical collections
- Designing exhibitions through cultural judgment, audience insight and stewardship
What to learn
- Learn AI-assisted digital preservation, records systems and metadata quality assurance
- Strengthen provenance research, appraisal ethics and rights management
- Practice verifying generated descriptions, citations and cataloguing decisions against primary sources
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Planning and implementing the computerized management of archives and electronic records67
- Evaluating and preserving records for administrative, historical, legal, evidential and other purposes59
- Directing or carrying out the preparation of indexes, bibliographies, microfilm copies and other reference aids to the collected material and making them available to users55
- Preparing scholarly papers and reports54
- Researching into, appraising, organizing and preserving historically significant and valuable documents such as government papers, private papers, photographs, maps, manuscripts and audiovisual materials47
- Researching the origin, distribution and use of materials and objects of cultural and historical interest46
- Appraising and acquiring archival materials to build and develop an archival collection for research purposes.45
- Organizing exhibitions at museums and art galleries, publicizing exhibits and arranging special displays for general, specialized or educational interest35
- Directing or undertaking classification and cataloguing of museum and art gallery collections and organizing exhibitions35
- Organizing, developing and maintaining collections of artistic, cultural, scientific or historically significant items32
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Planning and implementing the computerized management of archives and electronic records(67)
- Evaluating and preserving records for administrative, historical, legal, evidential and other purposes(59)
- Directing or carrying out the preparation of indexes, bibliographies, microfilm copies and other reference aids to the collected material and making them available to users(55)
- Preparing scholarly papers and reports(54)
- Researching into, appraising, organizing and preserving historically significant and valuable documents such as government papers, private papers, photographs, maps, manuscripts and audiovisual materials(47)
- Researching the origin, distribution and use of materials and objects of cultural and historical interest(46)
- Appraising and acquiring archival materials to build and develop an archival collection for research purposes.(45)
- Organizing exhibitions at museums and art galleries, publicizing exhibits and arranging special displays for general, specialized or educational interest(35)
- Directing or undertaking classification and cataloguing of museum and art gallery collections and organizing exhibitions(35)
- Organizing, developing and maintaining collections of artistic, cultural, scientific or historically significant items(32)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 47.)
About 40% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Planning and implementing the computerized management of archives and electronic records
- • Evaluating and preserving records for administrative, historical, legal, evidential and other purposes
- • Organizing, developing and maintaining collections of artistic, cultural, scientific or historically significant items
- • Directing or undertaking classification and cataloguing of museum and art gallery collections and organizing exhibitions
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Legal, social and cultural professionals group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Legal, social and cultural professionals |
|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 9.6% · 32 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 4.5% · 444 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 4.3% · 227 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 4.1% · 70 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 3.8% · 197 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 3.6% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 3.5% · 153 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 3.5% · 35 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 3.4% · 99 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 3.4% · 1,162 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 3.3% · 49 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 3.3% · 1,412 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 3.3% · 86 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.3% · 154 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 3.3% · 964 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 3.2% · 146 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 3.2% · 156 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 3.1% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 3.1% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 3.1% · 695 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 3.1% · 21 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 3.1% · 90 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 2.9% · 153 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 2.7% · 72 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 2.6% · 136 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.5% · 601 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.5% · 22 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 2.4% · 68 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.2% · 386 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 1.9% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 1.9% · 147 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Professionals). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland6,389
- Luxembourg5,274
- Ireland4,873
- Germany4,807
- Belgium4,799
- Denmark4,446
- Norway4,237
- Austria4,099
- Netherlands4,031
- Iceland3,875
- EU273,850
- France3,791
- Finland3,769
- Romania3,559
- Sweden3,416
- Spain3,413
- Slovenia3,326
- Italy3,305
- Cyprus3,271
- Lithuania3,221
- Croatia2,890
- Czechia2,871
- Malta2,825
- Poland2,783
- Hungary2,777
- Portugal2,755
- Latvia2,671
- Estonia2,599
- Bulgaria2,359
- Slovakia2,345
- Greece2,321
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Legal, social and cultural professionals group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?