Will AI replace Air Traffic Controllers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
32/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 50% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 64% of the work
What the job involves
Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport, and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers, according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(14)
- Inform pilots about nearby planes or potentially hazardous conditions, such as weather, speed and direction of wind, or visibility problems.
- Monitor aircraft within a specific airspace, using radar, computer equipment, or visual references.
- Alert airport emergency services in cases of emergency or when aircraft are experiencing difficulties.
- Maintain radio or telephone contact with adjacent control towers, terminal control units, or other area control centers to coordinate aircraft movement.
- Contact pilots by radio to provide meteorological, navigational, or other information.
and 9 more
Out of reach(8)
- Direct pilots to runways when space is available or direct them to maintain a traffic pattern until there is space for them to land.
- Provide flight path changes or directions to emergency landing fields for pilots traveling in bad weather or in emergency situations.
- Determine the timing or procedures for flight vector changes.
- Provide on-the-job training to new air traffic controllers.
- Initiate or coordinate searches for missing aircraft.
and 3 more
Also called
ATCS (Air Traffic Control Specialist) · ATCS · Air Route Controller · Air Route Traffic Controller · Air Traffic Coordinator · Aircraft Communicator · Airport Traffic Controller · Airway Controller
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics