Cognizant Report Finds AI Boosts Some Jobs While Displacing Others

Cognizant’s latest AI exposure study, an update of its 2023 analysis, examined more than 18,000 discrete tasks across 1,000 occupations and concluded that 93 % of U.S. jobs contain at least one task that can be automated with today’s generative‑AI tools, representing roughly $4.5 trillion of labor value (Forbes). The firm’s chief technology officer, Babak Hodjat, told the TechFirst podcast that “adoption isn’t there yet,” but the rapid pace of breakthroughs—especially in agentic and multimodal models—means the share of automatable tasks is already outpacing expectations (Forbes). In practical terms, the exposure score reflects the proportion of a role’s duties that could be assisted or replaced, not a wholesale disappearance of the job itself.

The report flags six occupations with the highest exposure percentages. Financial managers top the list, with 84 % of their tasks deemed AI‑compatible, followed closely by computer‑and‑mathematical roles (67 %) and legal analysts (63 %). Business and financial operations, office‑administration support, and management positions—including C‑suite executives—show exposure in the 60‑68 % range (Forbes). The surge in software development automation is illustrated by Anthropic’s lead engineer Boris Cherny, who disclosed that “pretty much 100 % of our code is written by Claude Code + Opus 4.5,” and that he shipped dozens of pull requests each fully generated by the model (Forbes). This anecdote underscores how large‑language models have moved from code suggestion to end‑to‑end programming in a matter of months.

Conversely, the study identifies a set of roles where AI impact remains modest. Construction workers, mechanics, and installation‑and‑repair technicians register exposure scores of 12‑20 %, while protective‑service jobs such as police and security personnel sit at 20‑29 % (Forbes). Personal‑care occupations—including childcare and elder‑care providers—also fall in the 20‑29 % band, and healthcare‑support roles sit at 29 % exposure (Forbes). These lower percentages reflect the tactile, situational and empathy‑driven nature of the work, which current AI systems struggle to replicate. Hodjat cautioned that “some of the tasks we were expecting to be automated later on are already being automated,” suggesting that even modestly exposed jobs could see incremental erosion as models improve (Forbes).

Cognizant’s findings arrive amid a broader industry debate about the threat AI poses to large IT services firms. Reuters quoted Hodjat as saying the perceived risk to firms like Cognizant is “overblown,” arguing that the company’s deep expertise in integrating AI solutions positions it to capture the $4.5 trillion value shift rather than lose market share (Reuters). The firm’s own revenue outlook reflects that optimism: Cognizant recently forecast annual revenue above analyst estimates on the back of strong AI demand (Reuters). Still, the exposure numbers signal a structural shift for corporate workforces; companies will likely re‑skill or redeploy talent to focus on tasks that remain uniquely human—strategic judgment, relationship building, and complex problem solving—while leveraging AI for routine analysis, reporting, and code generation.

In sum, the Cognizant report paints a nuanced picture: AI is already reshaping a broad swath of white‑collar work, with financial, legal, and software roles seeing the deepest penetration, while physically intensive or highly interpersonal jobs retain a larger human component for now. The $4.5 trillion labor‑value exposure suggests a massive efficiency upside, but also a pressing need for organizations to manage transition, upskill employees, and define new hybrid workflows that blend AI assistance with human expertise.