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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3413

Religious associate professionals

AI can draft a sermon. It can't sit with someone who is grieving.

AI barely touches any of the six tasks, from helping at services and religious work to running food, clothing and shelter programmes.

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

Religious associate professionals provide support to ministers of religion or to a religious community, undertake religious works, preach and propagate the teachings of a particular religion and endeavour to improve well-being through the power of faith and spiritual advice. Tasks include - (a) undertaking religious works; (b) preaching and propagating the teachings of a particular religious faith; (c) assisting at services of public worship and religious rites; (d) providing religious education, spiritual guidance and moral support to individuals and communities; (e) administering and participating in programmes to provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need; (f) advising communities and individuals on proper behaviour and faith to preserve or improve well-being. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Faith healer - Lay preacher - Monk - Nun Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Bonze - 2636 - Imam - 2636 - Minister of religion - 2636 - Poojari - 2636 - Priest - 2636 - Rabbi - 2636 - Herbalist - 3230 - Village healer - 3230 - Witch doctor - 3230

  • pastoral worker
  • monk/nun

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

88 / 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.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

34 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 6 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 12.1 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 12.1 = 87.9.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

There's no close match for this job in the US data, so we can't say how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools.

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?

Religious associate professionals 88

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.

  • Newsletters, rotas and admin.
  • Research and preparing talks.
  • Coordinating volunteers and donations.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Pastoral care in hard moments.
  • Leading worship and rites.
  • Building community face to face.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Online and hybrid services.
  • Helping communities think through questions AI raises.
  • Coordinating local support programmes.

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: Low

28 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 47 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

– how hands-on

We don't have a hands-on measure for this job.

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 22, against an average of 12. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 22

    Administering and participating in programmes to provide food, clothing and shelter to those in need

    Very Low
  2. 20

    Advising communities and individuals on proper behaviour and faith to preserve or improve well-being.

    Very Low
  3. 10

    Providing religious education, spiritual guidance and moral support to individuals and communities

    Very Low
  4. 9

    Preaching and propagating the teachings of a particular religious faith

    Very Low
  5. 7

    Assisting at services of public worship and religious rites

    Very Low
  6. 5

    Undertaking religious works

    Very Low

6 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
47
AI does it for you
28

Sidekick wins, by 19 points.

How good a match is this?

2 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 2722, 4518

So, should pastoral and religious workers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No. Every task rates Very Low, from pastoral support to leading worship and running food programmes. AI can help with admin, newsletters and study. The heart of the work is being present with people.

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 65. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →