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Service and sales workers · code 5161

Astrologers, fortune-tellers and related workers

AI will happily forecast your future. That's exactly why this one scores as it does.

Forecasting events from readings is the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. Reading palms, cards and tea leaves, and advising on evil influences, it barely touches. We didn't see that coming either.

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

Astrologers, fortune-tellers and related workers recount past and predict future events in persons’ lives by practicing astrology, on the basis of characteristics of the clients’ palms, samples of playing cards drawn or other techniques. Tasks include - (a) casting horoscopes of individuals at birth or later to recount past and forecast future events and conditions of their lives; (b) interpreting characteristics of clients’ palms, samples of playing cards, position of tea leaves or coffee remnants in a cup, shapes and patterns of bones of dead animals, etc.; (c) forecasting future events on the basis of these interpretations; (d) determining auspicious times for various human activities such as inaugurations, marriages, journeys and religious and other ceremonies; (e) giving warnings and advice on possible courses of action; (f) advising individuals on precautions to be taken to avoid evil influences. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Astrologer - Fortune-teller - Numerologist - Palmist Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Witch doctor - 3230 - Faith healer - 3413

  • psychic
  • fortune teller
  • medium
  • astrologer

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

70 / 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

238 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 29.7 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 29.7 = 70.3.

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.

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

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 61 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Astrologers, fortune-tellers and related workers 70

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.

  • Written horoscopes and forecasts.
  • Auspicious date calculations.
  • Bookings and promotion online.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • In-person readings.
  • Reading the client in front of you.
  • Ritual and ceremony.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Readings by video call.
  • Competition from horoscope apps.
  • Wellbeing and entertainment events.

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

25 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 40 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

61 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 32 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

61 How
hands-on
32 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, less fiddly work

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, matched to one US job .

finger skill 39.3 · hand skill 37.4 · cramped spaces 19 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4

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 59, against an average of 30. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 59

    Forecasting future events on the basis of these interpretations

    Medium
  2. 39

    Giving warnings and advice on possible courses of action

    Low
  3. 25

    Determining auspicious times for various human activities such as inaugurations, marriages, journeys and religious and other ceremonies

    Low
  4. 24

    Casting horoscopes of individuals at birth or later to recount past and forecast future events and conditions of their lives

    Very Low
  5. 18

    Advising individuals on precautions to be taken to avoid evil influences.

    Very Low
  6. 15

    Interpreting characteristics of clients’ palms, samples of playing cards, position of tea leaves or coffee remnants in a cup, shapes and patterns of bones of dead animals, etc.

    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
40
AI does it for you
25

Sidekick wins, by 15 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 4518

So, should astrologers and fortune tellers be worried?

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

Some of it is already here. Forecasting events is rated Medium, and giving advice and picking auspicious dates are Low; casting horoscopes and reading palms or cards rate Very Low. Horoscope apps compete with the written forecasts; in-person readings are about the experience.

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 39 jobs in the “Service and sales workers” family, averaging 75. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →