Automatable

A task performed by Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters.

Red LightAI can do it · workers don't want it

Technically, much of it, experts rate AI capability 4.5/5, but workers don't want it automated (desire 2.44/5). It's an Automation Red Light: proceed with care.

Worker desire to automate2.4/5

How much the people who do this task want AI to take it over (avg of 9 workers).

AI capability today4.5/5

How capable experts rate current AI at this task (avg of 2 experts).

How much human involvement should stay?

The Human Agency Scale (H1–H5) captures how much human direction workers think this task should keep.

H2AI needs minimal human input

Why workers feel the way they do

  • Frees up time for higher-value work22%
  • It's repetitive22%
  • Helps handle larger scale11%

How to automate this

Doable with technology, but keep a person clearly in charge.

Where to start

Remove the repetitive parts first.

  1. 1Template anything you do the same way each time.
  2. 2Connect your tools with a no-code automation (Zapier, Make, Power Automate).
  3. 3Use AI for the first draft, then review.

Tools that can help

Zapier or MakeTemplatesAI assistant

Know a better way, or spot an error?

Share how you automate this in real life, or correct the data. Reviewed before publishing.

This is 1 of 15 tasks studied for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive, where workers want 13% of tasks automated.

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