Skip to content
man bot

Professionals · code 2633

Philosophers, historians and political scientists

Philosophers, historians and political scientists conduct research into the nature of human experience and existence, phases or aspects of human history, and political structures, movements and behaviour. They document and report on findings to inform and guide political and individual actions Tasks include - (a) researching, including by reasoning, into the general causes, principles and meanings of the world, human actions, experience and existence, and interpreting and developing philosophical concepts and theories; (b) consulting and comparing primary sources such as original or contemporary records of past events, and secondary sources such as archaeological or anthropological findings; (c) extracting relevant material, checking its authenticity, and researching into and describing the history of a particular period, country or region, or a particular facet - for example economic, social or political - of its history; (d) conducting research in such fields as political philosophy, or past and present theory and practice of political systems, institutions or behaviour; (e) observing contemporary political institutions and opinions, collecting data on them from various sources, including interviews with government and political party officials and other relevant persons; (f) developing theories, models and methods to interpret and describe the nature of human experience and historical and political events and behaviour; (g) presenting findings and conclusions for publication or use by government, political parties or other organizations and interested persons; (h) preparing scholarly papers and reports. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Genealogist - Historian - Philosopher - Political scientist Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Political adviser - 2422

A good share of the tasks are affected. It ranks 364 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • political scientist
  • philosopher
  • historian

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

52.9
Holds up
against AI
Exposed: Gradient 2

AI could take on 47.1 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 47.1 = 52.9

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

13.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

5.9
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 7.8 · hand skill 1.8 · cramped spaces 8 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 13.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 53.5, while the average is 47.1. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 53.5

    Extracting relevant material, checking its authenticity, and researching into and describing the history of a particular period, country or region, or a particular facet - for example economic, social or political - of its history

    Medium
  2. 53.5

    Presenting findings and conclusions for publication or use by government, political parties or other organizations and interested persons

    Medium
  3. 52.5

    Preparing scholarly papers and reports.

    Medium
  4. 50.5

    Consulting and comparing primary sources, such as original or contemporary records of past events, and secondary sources such as archaeological or anthropological findings

    Medium
  5. 47.3

    Conducting research in such fields as political philosophy, or past and present theory and practice of political systems, institutions or behaviour

    Low
  6. 41.8

    Observing contemporary political institutions and opinions, collecting data on them from various sources, including interviews with government and political party officials and other relevant persons

    Low
  7. 41.5

    Developing theories, models and methods to interpret and describe the nature of human experience and historical and political events and behaviour

    Low
  8. 36.5

    Researching, mostly by reasoning, into the general causes, principles and meanings of the world, human actions, experience and existence, and interpreting and developing philosophical concepts and theories

    Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
71
AI does it for you
47

Helping wins by 24 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2724

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.4. This one is below that.