Will AI replace Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
52/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 83% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 5% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 73% of the work
What the job involves
Design objects, facilities, and environments to optimize human well-being and overall system performance, applying theory, principles, and data regarding the relationship between humans and respective technology. Investigate and analyze characteristics of human behavior and performance as it relates to the use of technology.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Analyze complex systems to determine potential for further development, production, interoperability, compatibility, or usefulness in a particular area, such as aviation.
- Investigate theoretical or conceptual issues, such as the human design considerations of lunar landers or habitats.
Within reach(17)
- Collect data through direct observation of work activities or witnessing the conduct of tests.
- Conduct interviews or surveys of users or customers to collect information on topics, such as requirements, needs, fatigue, ergonomics, or interfaces.
- Prepare reports or presentations summarizing results or conclusions of human factors engineering or ergonomics activities, such as testing, investigation, or validation.
- Perform functional, task, or anthropometric analysis, using tools, such as checklists, surveys, videotaping, or force measurement.
- Provide technical support to clients through activities, such as rearranging workplace fixtures to reduce physical hazards or discomfort or modifying task sequences to reduce cycle time.
and 12 more
Out of reach(7)
- Advocate for end users in collaboration with other professionals, including engineers, designers, managers, or customers.
- Inspect work sites to identify physical hazards.
- Train users in task techniques or ergonomic principles.
- Review health, safety, accident, or worker compensation records to evaluate safety program effectiveness or to identify jobs with high incidence of injury.
- Integrate human factors requirements into operational hardware.
and 2 more
Also called
Human Factors Engineer · Ergonomist · Ergonomics Consultant · Ergonomics Engineer · Board Certified Ergonomist · Certified Professional Ergonomist · Cognitive Engineer · 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