Authors and related writers
Most tasks score high and the scores agree. Expect the role to be reorganised.
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.· 12/10/2026How is it made?
With an exposure score of 55/100, authors face substantial transformation in proofreading, technical drafting, and routine research, while original creative storytelling, authorial voice, and complex scriptwriting remain deeply human alongside steady sector growth.
What changes
- Automated proofreading, style analysis, and grammar checking accelerate final editorial revisions and copyediting.
- Drafting structured technical manuals, user guides, and procedural handbooks from raw technical documentation.
- Synthesizing background research and factual data to quickly assemble initial informational briefs and outlines.
What stays human
- Conceiving original artistic themes, emotional depth, and unique literary voice in creative fiction.
- Developing nuanced character dynamics and subtext tailored for dramatic stage and screen performances.
- Subjective editorial judgment, cultural resonance, and deciding thematic direction for publications.
What to learn
- Prompting and directing AI tools to generate initial drafts for technical and informational writing.
- High-level developmental editing, critical fact-checking, and refining machine-generated prose for publication quality.
- Cross-media narrative design, deep character worldbuilding, and live audience-focused script adaptation.
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).
- Selecting material for publication, checking style, grammar and accuracy of content, arranging for any necessary revisions and checks proof copies before printing.66
- Analysing material, such as specifications, notes and drawings, and creating manuals, instructions for use, user guides and other documents to explain clearly and concisely the installation, operation and maintenance of software, electronic, mechanical and other equipment63
- Writing brochures, handbooks and similar technical publications56
- Conducting research to establish factual content and to obtain other necessary information55
- Conceiving, writing and editing novels, plays, scripts, poetry and other material for publication or presentation45
- Writing scripts and continuities and preparing programmes for stage, film, radio and television productions43
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.
- Selecting material for publication, checking style, grammar and accuracy of content, arranging for any necessary revisions and checks proof copies before printing.(66)
- Analysing material, such as specifications, notes and drawings, and creating manuals, instructions for use, user guides and other documents to explain clearly and concisely the installation, operation and maintenance of software, electronic, mechanical and other equipment(63)
- Writing brochures, handbooks and similar technical publications(56)
- Conducting research to establish factual content and to obtain other necessary information(55)
- Conceiving, writing and editing novels, plays, scripts, poetry and other material for publication or presentation(45)
- Writing scripts and continuities and preparing programmes for stage, film, radio and television productions(43)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 55.)
About 67% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Selecting material for publication, checking style, grammar and accuracy of content, arranging for any necessary revisions and checks proof copies before printing.
- • Analysing material, such as specifications, notes and drawings, and creating manuals, instructions for use, user guides and other documents to explain clearly and concisely the installation, operation and maintenance of software, electronic, mechanical and other equipment
- • Writing scripts and continuities and preparing programmes for stage, film, radio and television productions
- • Conceiving, writing and editing novels, plays, scripts, poetry and other material for publication or presentation
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?