Will AI replace Clergy?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
23/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 38% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 9% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 27% of the work
What the job involves
Conduct religious worship and perform other spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faith or denomination. Provide spiritual and moral guidance and assistance to members.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Prepare and deliver sermons or other talks.
- Share information about religious issues by writing articles, giving speeches, or teaching.
Within reach(5)
- Instruct people who seek conversion to a particular faith.
- Devise ways in which congregational membership can be expanded.
- Collaborate with committees or individuals to address financial or administrative issues pertaining to congregations.
- Refer people to community support services, psychologists, or doctors.
- Perform administrative duties, such as overseeing building management, ordering supplies, contracting for services or repairs, or supervising the work of staff members or volunteers.
Out of reach(14)
- Pray and promote spirituality.
- Read from sacred texts, such as the Bible, Torah, or Koran.
- Organize and lead regular religious services.
- Counsel individuals or groups concerning their spiritual, emotional, or personal needs.
- Prepare people for participation in religious ceremonies.
and 9 more
Also called
Chaplain · Minister · Pastor · Priest · Rabbi · Youth Pastor · Bishop · Rector
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