{"slug": "agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over", "title": "Agent Delegability Index: How much of the work can AI agents take over?", "summary": "The Agent Delegability Index v2026.1, updated October 2026, rates all 18,796 occupational task statements and finds that 35.1% of task time in world employment is at least partly delegable to AI agents in 2026, while only 2.5% can be handed over in full. The index, which covers 433 occupations and 146 countries, reports that each log point of GDP per capita adds 7.23 percentage points of delegable work, ranging from 22.5% in 17 low-income countries to 48.7% in 53 high-income countries. Office work is the most delegable, with managers at 81.8% and clerical support workers at 78.3% of task time at least partly delegable, versus 12.3% for elementary occupations.", "body_md": "**v2026.1**· updated October 2026\n\n# How much of the world’s work can AI agents take over?\n\nThe index rates every one of 18,796 occupational task statements for how much of it a current AI agent could carry out, from helping a person to finishing the job alone, and carries the ratings to 433 occupations and 146 countries.\n\nof task time in world employment is at least partly delegable to AI agents in 2026. Only 2.5% can be handed over in full.\n\n[Low income22.5%17 countries](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries?income=low)\n\n[Lower-middle income28.3%33 countries](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries?income=lower-middle)\n\n[Upper-middle income35.0%43 countries](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries?income=upper-middle)\n\n[High income48.7%53 countries](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries?income=high)\n\n**The delegation divide.** Each log point of GDP per capita adds 7.23 percentage points of delegable work.\n\n[Open the country atlas](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries)\n\nof task time can be handed over to an agent in full, given only the goal and access.\n\nFull delegation is most likely for tasks that take a person about twelve minutes.\n\nagreement of a blind human rating of 300 tasks, led by a coauthor with student raters, with the models.\n\ncorrelation between delegability and AI use across 101 countries (Anthropic Economic Index).\n\n## Office work is the most delegable; manual work the least\n\nShare of task weight an agent can at least partly take over, averaged over unit groups with world employment weights. Whiskers: 95% bootstrap interval.\n\n[All 433 occupations](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations)\n\n| # | Major group | ADI, % of task time at L2–L3 | ADI | 95% interval | \n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| 1 of 9 | [1 · Managers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=1) |  | 81.8 | 78.1–85.1 | \n| 2 of 9 | [4 · Clerical support workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=4) |  | 78.3 | 74.7–81.7 | \n| 3 of 9 | [2 · Professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=2) |  | 69.9 | 67.9–71.9 | \n| 4 of 9 | [3 · Technicians and associate professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=3) |  | 64.4 | 62.5–66.4 | \n| 5 of 9 | [5 · Service and sales workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=5) |  | 39.6 | 34.8–44.6 | \n| 6 of 9 | [8 · Plant and machine operators and assemblers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=8) |  | 18.4 | 13.1–23.8 | \n| 7 of 9 | [6 · Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=6) |  | 17.4 | 14.0–21.3 | \n| 8 of 9 | [7 · Craft and related trades workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=7) |  | 17.4 | 15.5–19.5 | \n| 9 of 9 | [9 · Elementary occupations](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=9) |  | 12.3 | 9.1–16.2 | \n\n| # | Major group | ADI3, % of task time at L3 (scale 0–10) | ADI3 | \n|---|---|---|---|\n| 1 of 9 | [4 · Clerical support workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=4) |  | 18.4 | \n| 2 of 9 | [3 · Technicians and associate professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=3) |  | 4.5 | \n| 3 of 9 | [5 · Service and sales workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=5) |  | 3.4 | \n| 4 of 9 | [2 · Professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=2) |  | 2.4 | \n| 5 of 9 | [8 · Plant and machine operators and assemblers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=8) |  | 1.7 | \n| 6 of 9 | [1 · Managers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=1) |  | 1.5 | \n| 7 of 9 | [6 · Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=6) |  | 0.7 | \n| 8 of 9 | [7 · Craft and related trades workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=7) |  | 0.4 | \n| 9 of 9 | [9 · Elementary occupations](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=9) |  | 0.2 | \n\n| Major group | Physical presence | Accountability | Trust and care | Access to systems | \n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| [1 · Managers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=1) | 21% | 36% | 52% | 74% | \n| [2 · Professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=2) | 33% | 45% | 50% | 64% | \n| [3 · Technicians and associate professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=3) | 44% | 40% | 38% | 71% | \n| [4 · Clerical support workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=4) | 35% | 11% | 18% | 70% | \n| [5 · Service and sales workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=5) | 72% | 19% | 44% | 61% | \n| [6 · Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=6) | 90% | 27% | 17% | 62% | \n| [7 · Craft and related trades workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=7) | 88% | 22% | 8% | 44% | \n| [8 · Plant and machine operators and assemblers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=8) | 86% | 30% | 14% | 66% | \n| [9 · Elementary occupations](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations?group=9) | 94% | 16% | 11% | 45% | \n\nShare of task weight flagged by each barrier. Barriers are not exclusive. Bold: 60% or more.\n\n## Find your job or country in the index\n\n| Most delegable | ADI | \n|---|---|\n| [Coding, proof-reading and related clerks](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4413) 4413 | 100.0 | \n| [Contact centre salespersons](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/5244) 5244 | 100.0 | \n| [Clerical support workers not elsewhere classified](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4419) 4419 | 100.0 | \n| [Payroll clerks](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4313) 4313 | 100.0 | \n| [Accounting associate professionals](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/3313) 3313 | 100.0 | \n| Least delegable | ADI | \n| [Hand launderers and pressers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9121) 9121 | 0.0 | \n| [Civil engineering labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9312) 9312 | 0.0 | \n| [Mining and quarrying labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9311) 9311 | 0.0 | \n| [Laundry machine operators](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/8157) 8157 | 0.0 | \n| [Concrete placers, concrete finishers and related workers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/7114) 7114 | 0.0 | \n\n| Most delegable | ADI3 | \n|---|---|\n| [Coding, proof-reading and related clerks](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4413) 4413 | 67.7 | \n| [Typists and word processing operators](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4131) 4131 | 61.9 | \n| [Contact centre salespersons](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/5244) 5244 | 43.1 | \n| [Receptionists (general)](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4226) 4226 | 41.5 | \n| [Clerical support workers not elsewhere classified](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4419) 4419 | 41.1 | \n| Least delegable | ADI3 | \n| [Civil engineering labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9312) 9312 | 0.0 | \n| [Mining and quarrying labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9311) 9311 | 0.0 | \n| [Forestry labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9215) 9215 | 0.0 | \n| [Hand launderers and pressers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9121) 9121 | 0.0 | \n| [Pulp and papermaking plant operators](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/8171) 8171 | 0.0 | \n\n| Most delegable | ADIs | \n|---|---|\n| [Coding, proof-reading and related clerks](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4413) 4413 | 79.6 | \n| [Contact centre salespersons](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/5244) 5244 | 79.0 | \n| [Clerical support workers not elsewhere classified](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4419) 4419 | 75.0 | \n| [Payroll clerks](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4313) 4313 | 73.9 | \n| [Typists and word processing operators](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/4131) 4131 | 73.8 | \n| Least delegable | ADIs | \n| [Hand launderers and pressers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9121) 9121 | 5.0 | \n| [Civil engineering labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9312) 9312 | 5.3 | \n| [Kitchen helpers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9412) 9412 | 5.5 | \n| [Mining and quarrying labourers](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/9311) 9311 | 5.9 | \n| [Laundry machine operators](https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/8157) 8157 | 6.4 | \n\n## Richer countries have more work agents can take over\n\nEach flag is one of 146 countries. The ADI rises 7.23 points per log point of GDP per capita; income alone explains 71% of the spread.\n\n[Explore 146 countries](https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries)\n\nBalam Labs · Agent Delegability Index v2026.1 · balamlabs.org/adi\n\n## Full delegation peaks for tasks of about twelve minutes\n\nThe chance that an agent can finish a task end to end on its own rises with task duration up to 11.8 minutes of human work and falls for longer, multi-step tasks.\n\n[Methodology](https://balamlabs.org/adi/methodology#takeaways)\n\nHover or focus a dot to inspect one of the 20 task-duration bins. Very short tasks are often physical or interpersonal moments; long tasks bundle steps that still need human review.\n\nBalam Labs · Agent Delegability Index v2026.1 · balamlabs.org/adi\n\n- 22 Oct 2026[The Delegation Divide on arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30752)The paper: method, the four preregistered hypotheses and their tests. arXiv:2610.30752 [econ.GN]. [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30752)\n- 22 Oct 2026[The Delegation Divide: ADI Report 2026.1](https://balamlabs.org/adi/report)The results in 48 pages for policy and general readers, with a profile of Colombia by sex, age and formality. [Report](https://balamlabs.org/adi/report)\n- 22 Oct 2026[Dataset v2026.1 on Zenodo](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23552918)Ratings for every task, scores for every occupation and country, the rubric, and the code that builds them. doi:10.5281/zenodo.23552918 [Data](https://balamlabs.org/adi/data)\n- Oct 2026[Preregistration on OSF](https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9ZNTF)Hypotheses, rubric and analysis plan were registered before the main scoring run. Deviations are listed in the methodology. [Changes](https://balamlabs.org/adi/methodology#updates)\n\n## Query and cite the index from code\n\nEvery record carries its citation. No key, no rate limit.\n\n`/adi/v2026.1/isco/2512.json`\nOne static file per occupation and per country.\n\n`pip install \"adi-index @ git+https://github.com/Cespial/delegation-divide#subdirectory=herramientas/adi-index\"`\nThen `adi lookup 2512`.\n\n`claude mcp add adi -- adi-mcp`\nFour tools: lookup, country profile, top occupations, cite.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over", "canonical_source": "https://balamlabs.org/adi", "published_at": "2026-11-05 10:31:55+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-05 10:55:50.377794+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Agent Delegability Index", "Anthropic Economic Index"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/agent-delegability-index-how-much-of-the-work-can-ai-agents-take-over.jsonld"}}