GistGarden

Will AI replace Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants?

On paper, AI could touch ~65% of the work in Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants — and unlike most jobs, it's already showing up in the real workday, not just the theory.

The Epicenter Where AI is already part of the workday.

O*NET-SOC 43-6011

How your 15 core tasks split

93% within AI's reach
6 AI can do this now
8 AI speeds this up
1 Still on you
AI could do · GPT-4 study
65%
42-pt gap
AI actually does · 2026 report
23%

Top = what GPT-4 judged AI could speed up. Bottom = how much AI was actually used for these tasks (Anthropic's March 2026 report, usage from Aug & Nov 2025). The gap is the real story.

⚡ The short answer

Back in 2023, GPT-4 judged AI could, in theory, assist with a high share of this job's tasks (~65%). By late 2025, real-world AI use had reached about 23% of its task activity (already common). The gap between that 2023 forecast and today is the real story.

Where this job sits among 738 jobs

Being automatedTicking (can, but unused)Relatively safeQuietly happeningYOU0%50%100%0%40%75% → How much AI could do (theory) → How much AI is actually used (late 2025)

Each dot is one of 738 U.S. jobs. Right = AI can do more of it. Up = AI is actually used more.

Mixedconfidence

Read this as a range, not a verdict

The signals here partly disagree — AI's theoretical reach (~65%) and its real-world use (~23%) tell different stories. AI-risk scores also shift a lot by which model does the rating (2.7%–51.5% in one 2026 study), so this is a direction of travel, not a fixed answer.

See all 15 tasks, ratedBased on real task-level AI scores — click to collapse
AI can already do this6 of 15
  • Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.
  • Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.
  • Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.
  • Read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.
  • Provide clerical support to other departments.
  • Attend meetings to record minutes.
AI speeds this up8 of 15
  • Manage and maintain executives' schedules.
  • Make travel arrangements for executives.
  • Coordinate and direct office services, such as records, departmental finances, budget preparation, personnel issues, and housekeeping, to aid executives.
  • Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.
  • Prepare agendas and make arrangements, such as coordinating catering for luncheons, for committee, board, and other meetings.
  • Conduct research, compile data, and prepare papers for consideration and presentation by executives, committees, and boards of directors.
  • Perform general office duties, such as ordering supplies, maintaining records management database systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work.
  • File and retrieve corporate documents, records, and reports.
Still on you1 of 15
  • Greet visitors and determine whether they should be given access to specific individuals.

My job is in The Epicenter 🌋

AI's already in the room. Guess I'll learn to aim it.

Theoretical estimate · not a prediction · gistgarden.com

How we measured this — and how fresh it is

AI's theoretical reach data: 2023

From GPTs-are-GPTs (Eloundou et al.), where GPT-4 rated how much of each task an AI tool could meaningfully speed up. This is the most recent open, commercially-usable occupation-level potential dataset — it dates to 2023. Newer multi-model re-runs exist but swing wildly (one 2026 study saw "high-risk" jobs range 2.7%–51.5% by model) and aren't openly licensed, so we show the stable 2023 baseline and pair it with newer real-world data.

Real-world AI use 2026 report

From the Anthropic Economic Index, which observes how real Claude conversations map onto each occupation's tasks. Published in Anthropic's March 2026 labor-market report, based on usage measured in Aug & Nov 2025 (Sonnet 4 / 4.5).

Task list & ratings O*NET 30.3

Tasks come from O*NET 30.3. Each task's "AI can do / speeds up / still on you" tier uses the real task-level exposure scores from GPTs-are-GPTs (E1 / E2 / E0) — not a guess from keywords.

Sources: O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0) · GPTs-are-GPTs (MIT, 2023) · Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY, Aug & Nov 2025). Page compiled June 2026. "O*NET" is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor.

This page is for general informational purposes only and is not career, financial, or employment advice. AI exposure reflects research estimates of task overlap, not predictions about any individual's job, employer, or future employment.