The Delegation Divide: An Open Index of AI-Agent Delegability across Occupations and Countries
Which jobs can AI actually do alone, and who gets affected first
Only 2.5% of global job tasks can be fully handed to AI agents, though 35.2% can be partly automated. The researchers built a detailed map rating 18,796 work tasks across 146 countries by how much AI could handle them, and discovered a stark divide: workers in rich countries face 48.7% delegable tasks versus 22.5% in poor countries—a gap driven by the fact that poorer economies employ more people in physical jobs that machines can't yet do.
This reveals who is and isn't at risk as AI spreads unevenly across the global economy. Countries already facing job transitions will experience them faster and harder, while those relying on physical labor have a longer runway—but only until robotics catches up. The index is now public, so policymakers can see exactly which occupations and countries need retraining investments first.