AI exposure Sales
Will AI replace cashiers?
Cashiers. US occupation 41-2011.
The reading
8.5%
of the time cashiers spend on their work goes on tasks where AI is already being used to do that work.of cashiers' working hours go on tasks AI has already started taking off their plate.
Ranked 200 of 756 US occupations. More exposed than 73% of them.Further along than 73% of them.
Per cent of working time Square-law scale
Average US job 7.7%
Well above the typical job.Ahead of most of the workforce.
What AI already does for cashiersWhat cashiers no longer do alone
O*NET lists 28 tasks for cashiers. AI use at work shows up in 2 of them. Each score runs from 0.5, where every observed use helps a person with the task, to 1, where every use does the task outright.
- Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.Core task mostly automated 0.94
- Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints.Core task mostly automated 0.89
What it does not touch, yetWhat still needs a human
26 of the 28 tasks show no AI use at work in the data.
- Answer incoming phone calls.Core task
- Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners.Core task
- Greet customers entering establishments.Core task
- Help customers find the location of products.Core task
- Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.Core task
- Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans.Core task
Show the other 20
- Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately.Core task
- Process merchandise returns and exchanges.Core task
- Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.Core task
- Request information or assistance, using paging systems.Core task
- Assist with duties in other areas of the store, such as monitoring fitting rooms or bagging and carrying out customers' items.
- Bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment.
- Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales.
- Cash checks for customers.
- Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records.
- Compute and record totals of transactions.
- Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.
- Issue trading stamps, and redeem food stamps and coupons.
- Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions.
- Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions.
- Post charges against guests' or patients' accounts.
- Sell tickets and other items to customers.
- Sort, count, and wrap currency and coins.
- Stock shelves, sort and reshelve returned items, and mark prices on items and shelves.
- Supervise others and provide on-the-job training.
- Weigh items sold by weight to determine prices.
How that compares
Among the 20 sales occupations, cashiers rank 16. The group averages 23.6%, and its most exposed job is Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products at 62.8%. The average US occupation sits at 7.7%.
Just above in the ranking
- 197Flight Attendants 9.1%
- 198Pharmacists 9.0%
- 199Electrical and Electronics Drafters 8.9%
Just below
What this does and does not mean
Exposure is observed use, not a forecast. Anthropic maps work conversations with Claude onto the tasks O*NET lists for each job and asks, of the tasks AI could speed up, which are actually being used for at work. A use that does the task outright counts in full and a use that assists a person counts half. The task scores are averaged into the occupation figure by the share of time spent on each task.
A high figure means AI is already part of how this work gets done. It does not mean anyone has been replaced. Anthropic's own reading of the labour market finds no systematic rise in unemployment among exposed workers so far, and about 14% fewer 22 to 25 year olds starting exposed jobs.No measurable rise in unemployment among exposed workers so far, and about 14% fewer 22 to 25 year olds starting these jobs. Gap years for everyone. Labor market impacts, 5 March 2026.
Task list and titles from O*NET 31.0 by the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Scores from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY). Checked 1 November 2026. How the ranking works.