Will AI replace Electrical Engineers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
37/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 58% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 14% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 58% of the work
What the job involves
Research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(4)
- Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems.
- Estimate labor, material, or construction costs for budget preparation purposes.
- Conduct field surveys or study maps, graphs, diagrams, or other data to identify and correct power system problems.
- Collect data relating to commercial or residential development, population, or power system interconnection to determine operating efficiency of electrical systems.
Within reach(10)
- Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks.
- Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products.
- Prepare technical drawings, specifications of electrical systems, or topographical maps to ensure that installation and operations conform to standards and customer requirements.
- Prepare specifications for purchases of materials or equipment.
- Plan or implement research methodology or procedures to apply principles of electrical theory to engineering projects.
and 5 more
Out of reach(7)
- Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
- Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget.
- Supervise or train project team members, as necessary.
- Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements.
- Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.
and 2 more
Also called
Electrical Engineer · Electrical Design Engineer · Electrical Systems Engineer · Illuminating Engineer · Plant Engineer · Protection Engineer · Design Engineer · Electrical Project Engineer
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