Hairdresser versus Software developer
Hairdresser
83 / 100
Strongly holds up against AI
Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.
Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.
The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed
Software developer
47 / 100
Changing significantly
AI could do a real share of the everyday tasks. The job is changing shape, not vanishing.
Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.
The ILO's official verdict: Exposed: Gradient 3
Hairdresser is 36 points ahead of Software developer. That says nothing about skill, difficulty or worth — only about what machines can do right now.
What's behind the numbers
The headline number is the least interesting part. Here's where the real difference is.
- How much AI could help with AI helps
- 47 77
- How much AI could do without you AI takes over
- 24 63
- How much the job needs hands, a body or being there Hands-on
- 46 14
Usually good news: more of the work gets quicker without the job going away.
This is what most people mean by “exposed”. We keep it apart from helping on purpose.
Software can't do hands-on work, but robots might one day. How far they've got isn't on this site, because nobody measures it well enough yet.
from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index O*NET 31.0 Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use