Somewhat Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Archivists:
37.2%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Low
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Low
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
Med
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
There are a reasonable number of sources for this result, but there is some disagreement between them.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forArchivists
$64,550 median salary•1,100 annual openings•SOC Code: 25-4011.00
Archivists are somewhat less resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 8 sources.
Archivists land in the "Somewhat Resilient" category because AI is genuinely changing how the work gets done, even if it is not eliminating the job. Tools that automatically generate metadata, redact sensitive information, and transcribe handwritten documents are taking over some of the more repetitive tasks that archivists used to handle by hand.
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Archivists land in the "Somewhat Resilient" category because AI is genuinely changing how the work gets done, even if it is not eliminating the job. Tools that automatically generate metadata, redact sensitive information, and transcribe handwritten documents are taking over some of the more repetitive tasks that archivists used to handle by hand.
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Archivists
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Archivists jobs?
Good news first: if you're thinking about becoming an archivist, AI is showing up mostly as a helper rather than a replacement. A 2026 study in Archival Science interviewed working archivists and found that rather than replacing archivists' jobs, AI adoption has primarily transformed the organization of work by automating selected routine tasks, enabling new forms of archival activity, augmenting professional capabilities, and improving efficiency once systems reach full production use, and that interviewees reported no job losses attributable to AI to date [1]. Real-world examples back this up: the U.S. National Archives (NARA) is piloting AI [2] to auto-generate metadata, run semantic search, and flag personally identifiable information in digitized records so materials can be released to the public faster.
Reporting from FedScoop describes NARA "going all in" [3] on pilots for auto-filling metadata, PII redaction, and FOIA processing. New guidelines from the UK's Archives & Records Association note that managers are asking whether AI can speed up description, identify sensitive content, or provide new forms of access [4], and that tools like Retrieval-Augmented Generation can draft summaries grounded in real collections — but only if archivists prepare the data first.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Archivists?
Adoption is happening, but at a careful pace. The Society of American Archivists just launched an AI Task Force [5] to guide the profession through ethical, technical, and accessibility questions — a sign that leaders want responsible rollout, not a rush. Cost and staffing pressures also matter: the Archival Science study found that although archives need AI expertise, budget limitations and layoffs after lost federal funding [1] have slowed new hiring for those roles.
On the other hand, AI can unlock work that was previously impossible, like transcribing handwritten collections that were too expensive to process by hand. Trust and ethics are big brakes on adoption too — the American Archivist editorial board warns [5] that generative AI raises copyright, bias, and misinformation concerns and can even invent fake citations, so human judgment remains essential. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of archivists, curators, and museum workers to grow 6 percent from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations [6].
The takeaway for students: the human skills of curation, ethics, community outreach, and classification design still matter — and pairing those with basic AI literacy will make you especially valuable.
Sources
Will AI replace Archivists?
Not entirely. We think AI will take over some tasks, but not the whole job.
Archivists score a 37.2% AI Resilience Score, which tells you this career faces real pressure. AI is already handling routine work like auto-generating metadata, redacting sensitive information, and processing records requests (archives.gov, fedscoop.com). That kind of repetitive processing is exactly where automation wins.
But the work that makes archivists genuinely valuable is harder to hand off. Deciding what gets preserved, navigating copyright and bias concerns, building community trust, and designing ethical classification systems all require human judgment. The American Archivist editorial board has flagged that generative AI can invent fake citations and spread misinformation, which means human oversight is not optional [5]. A 2026 study in Archival Science found no job losses attributable to AI so far, with adoption mostly reshaping workflows rather than eliminating roles [1].
The economic picture is mixed. Job market demand is relatively weak, so competition for openings will stay real. The good news is that archivists who build AI literacy alongside core skills like ethics, curation, and outreach are well positioned to lead responsible adoption rather than be sidelined by it. The Society of American Archivists has already launched a task force to guide exactly that kind of transition [5].
Sources
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Latest AI news for Archivists
These articles highlight the transformative role of AI in archival careers, emphasizing the need for archivists to adapt and innovate. For instance, the Weill Cornell Medicine project showcases how generative AI can enhance the transcription of historical medical records, improving accessibility. Additionally, the discussion by the Archival Producers Alliance illustrates the potential for AI to reshape archival footage production. Embracing AI technologies can empower future archivists to unlock new possibilities in preserving and managing collections, fostering a resilient and forward-thinking approach in their careers.
Statement of Shared Practice on AI Training Models and Archival Collections
library.washu.edu • 4/10/2026
WashU Libraries are pleased to be one of the eleven founding signatories of the Statement of Shared Practice on AI & Archives.
Broadcasters look to AI to unlock value from content archives
www.newscaststudio.com • 3/30/2026
For many broadcast and media organizations, one of the largest untapped assets is already in their possession. Content libraries built over...
Important notice: AI-generated archival and legal references
www.icrc.org • 12/3/2025
We are aware that some AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Bard and others) may generate incorrect or fabricated archival and...
Weill Cornell Medicine transcribes historical medical archives with generative AI on AWS
aws.amazon.com • 11/10/2025
by Sarah Ben Maamar, Curtis Cole, Amanda Garfunkel, Brittany Leyden, Sandra El Ashry, and Noel Singh on 10 NOV 2025 in Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Textract,...
The Dilemma of Documentary Proof: Archival Producers Alliance Co-founders Discuss How AI Will Change Archival
www.documentary.org • 4/10/2024
An interview with two organizers of the Archival Producers Alliance on how AI will shake up the nature of archival footage.
More Career Info
Career: Archivists
They organize and preserve important documents and records so people can find and use them in the future.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$64,550
Jobs (2025)
10,300
Growth (2025-35)
+3.4%
Annual Openings
1,100
Education
Master's degree
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Establish and administer policy guidelines concerning public access and use of materials.
2
Coordinate educational and public outreach programs, such as tours, workshops, lectures, and classes.
3
Direct activities of workers who assist in arranging, cataloguing, exhibiting, and maintaining collections of valuable materials.
4
Specialize in an area of history or technology, researching topics or items relevant to collections to determine what should be retained or acquired.
5
Authenticate and appraise historical documents and archival materials.
6
Locate new materials and direct their acquisition and display.
7
Select and edit documents for publication and display, applying knowledge of subject, literary expression, and presentation techniques.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
