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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3323

Buyers

AI can compare the quotes. Negotiating a better price is still a buyer.

Working out what stock is needed, and to what spec, is the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. Negotiating with suppliers, scheduling deliveries and managing stock are mostly out of its reach.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Buyers buy goods and services for use or resale on behalf of industrial, commercial, government or other establishments and organizations. Tasks include - (a) determining or negotiating contract terms and conditions, awarding supplier contracts or recommending contract awards for the purchase of equipment, raw materials, products, services and merchandise for resale; (b) obtaining information about requirements and stock and developing specifications for quantity and quality to be purchased, costs, delivery dates and other contract conditions; (c) purchasing general and specialized equipment, materials or business services for use or for further processing by their establishment; (d) inviting tenders, consulting with suppliers and reviewing quotations; (e) purchasing merchandise for resale by retail or wholesale establishments; (f) studying market reports, trade periodicals and sales promotion materials and visiting trade shows, showrooms, factories and product design events; (g) selecting the merchandise or products that best fit the establishment’s requirements; (h) interviewing suppliers and negotiating prices, discounts, credit terms and transportation arrangements; (i) overseeing distribution of merchandise to outlets and maintaining adequate stock levels; (j) establishing delivery schedules, monitoring progress and contacting clients and suppliers to resolve problems. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Buyer - Procurement officer - Purchasing agent - Purchasing merchandiser - Supply officer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Commodities broker - 3324

  • purchaser
  • timber trader
  • costume buyer
  • set buyer

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

61 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Minimal Exposure

326 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 10 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 39.4 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 39.4 = 60.6.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Minimal Exposure”: A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't.

This job rates 18.3 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.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Buyers 61

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Specifications and requirements.
  • Comparing tenders and quotes.
  • Market research.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Negotiating with suppliers.
  • Choosing what to buy.
  • Fixing supply problems.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • AI procurement tools.
  • Supply chain risk.
  • Ethical and sustainable sourcing.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Medium

40 could do without you

It could take over some of the work, and help with more. It could help with 67 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Lower

18 how hands-on

Not much of this job needs hands, so the robot can sit this one out.

So could a robot do the physical part?

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.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 11 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

18 How
hands-on
11 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs .

finger skill 11.9 · hand skill 6 · cramped spaces 16.1 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

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 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 51, against an average of 39. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 51

    Obtaining information about requirements and stock and developing specifications for quantity and quality to be purchased, costs, delivery dates and other contract conditions

    Medium
  2. 49

    Establishing delivery schedules, monitoring progress and contacting clients and suppliers to resolve problems.

    Low
  3. 48

    Purchasing merchandise for resale by retail or wholesale establishments

    Low
  4. 43

    Selecting the merchandise or products that best fit the establishment's requirements

    Low
  5. 40

    Studying market reports, trade periodicals and sales promotion materials and visiting trade shows, showrooms, factories and product design events

    Low
  6. 37

    Inviting tenders, consulting with suppliers and reviewing quotations

    Low
  7. 36

    Determining or negotiating contract terms and conditions, awarding supplier contracts or recommending contract awards for the purchase of equipment, raw materials, products, services and merchandise for resale

    Low
  8. 35

    Purchasing general and specialized equipment, materials or business services for use or for further processing by their establishment

    Low
  9. 32

    Interviewing suppliers and negotiating prices, discounts, credit terms and transportation arrangements

    Low
  10. 25

    Overseeing distribution of merchandise to outlets and maintaining adequate stock levels

    Low

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

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
67
AI does it for you
40

Sidekick wins, by 27 points.

How good a match is this?

1 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 6392, 6399

So, should buyers be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of it are changing. Specifications and requirements are rated Medium; delivery schedules, purchasing, selecting products, market research, tenders, contracts and negotiation are Low. Procurement software and AI take on analysis; relationships and negotiation stay human.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” family, averaging 66. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →