Agent Delegability Index: How much of the work can AI agents take over? (balamlabs.org)

A new study from Balam Labs has introduced the Agent Delegability Index (ADI), assessing how much work AI agents can potentially take over across 18,796 tasks within 433 occupations across 146 countries. The findings indicate that by 2026, an estimated 44% of global task time will be at least partially delegable to AI, with only about 2.5% of tasks fully handover-ready. Notably, office-related roles, such as coding and clerical support, exhibit the highest delegability rates, while manual and physically intensive jobs rank significantly lower. This index is significant for the AI/ML community as it quantifies the capabilities of AI in a clear, comparative manner, revealing the potential for automation in various professional sectors. It also suggests that economic factors like GDP per capita play a role in determining how much work can be trusted to AI, with richer countries showing more adaptable tasks. The research highlights that shorter tasks, particularly those around 12 minutes, are more amenable to full AI execution, further emphasizing the nuanced dynamics of task delegation in the context of evolving AI technologies.