Anthropic says programmers 74.5% exposed

Anthropic said on March 5 that jobs with the highest exposure to artificial intelligence are concentrated in white-collar work, including computer programming. (anthropic.com) The company’s paper introduced “observed exposure,” a measure that combines what large language models can theoretically do with what Claude users are actually delegating at work. Anthropic said that approach weights automated, work-related uses more heavily than casual assistance. (anthropic.com) On Anthropic’s Economic Index, computer and mathematical work is the top industry category by Claude usage. The public dashboard, last updated March 24, also shows work uses account for 58% of Claude conversations and computer and mathematical work leans heavily toward automation. (anthropic.com) Anthropic said workers in the most exposed occupations are more likely to be older, female, more educated, and higher-paid. It also said those occupations are projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow less through 2034. (anthropic.com) The company did not say AI has already produced a broad unemployment spike. Its paper said it found “no systematic increase in unemployment” for highly exposed workers since late 2022. (anthropic.com) Anthropic did report an early hiring signal: younger workers appear to be finding it harder to enter exposed fields. The paper said hiring of younger workers has slowed in exposed occupations since ChatGPT’s release, even as aggregate unemployment stayed flat. (anthropic.com) Programming sits at the center of that shift because coding is one of the clearest places where AI can both assist and take over tasks. In a separate April 28, 2025 study, Anthropic said 79% of conversations on Claude Code were classified as automation, compared with 49% on the main Claude.ai product. (anthropic.com) That earlier software study said web-development languages such as JavaScript and HTML were the most common in its dataset, and user-interface work was among the top coding uses. Anthropic said that pattern could put simpler app and interface work under pressure before more specialized backend jobs. (anthropic.com) Government forecasts already pointed to a softer outlook for one slice of the field before Anthropic’s latest paper. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says U.S. employment of computer programmers is projected to decline 6% from 2024 to 2034, with about 5,500 openings a year mostly tied to replacement demand. (bls.gov) At the same time, the broader computer and information technology category is still projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that wider group is expected to generate about 317,700 openings a year from 2024 to 2034. (bls.gov) Anthropic’s message is narrower than “AI is taking all tech jobs.” Its data says coding work is already one of the most automated uses of Claude, while the clearest labor-market effect so far is weaker entry-level hiring, not mass layoffs. (anthropic.com 1) (anthropic.com 2)