Will AI replace Detectives and Criminal Investigators?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
31/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 47% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 3% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 55% of the work
What the job involves
Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve crimes.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Prepare reports that detail investigation findings.
Within reach(15)
- Obtain facts or statements from complainants, witnesses, and accused persons and record interviews, using recording device.
- Record progress of investigation, maintain informational files on suspects, and submit reports to commanding officer or magistrate to authorize warrants.
- Analyze completed police reports to determine what additional information and investigative work is needed.
- Examine records to locate links in chains of evidence or information.
- Determine scope, timing, and direction of investigations.
and 10 more
Out of reach(14)
- Obtain and verify evidence by interviewing and observing suspects and witnesses or by analyzing records.
- Preserve, process, and analyze items of evidence obtained from crime scenes and suspects, placing them in proper containers and destroying evidence no longer needed.
- Prepare and serve search and arrest warrants.
- Testify before grand juries concerning criminal activity investigations.
- Question individuals or observe persons and establishments to confirm information given to patrol officers.
and 9 more
Also called
Criminal Investigator · Homicide Detective · CSI (Crime Scene Investigator) · Narcotics Detective · Narcotics Investigator · Police Detective · CSI · Cybercrimes Investigator
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