Administrative assistants and secretaries are facing a double threat: a decades-long decline in their profession and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Claude. While employment projections paint a bleak picture for this predominantly female field, many administrative professionals are actively embracing AI to enhance their roles and secure their futures.
For Deanna Danger, a 43-year-old executive assistant to the chief information officer at Vanderbilt University, adapting to new technology is just part of the job. Having worked in administration since 2003, Danger began integrating AI into her workflow in 2022. By using tools like Copilot and ChatGPT to take meeting notes, she has reclaimed hours of her time. "Honestly, what used to take me hours I’m now done with in under five minutes," she says, noting that the technology allows her to actively participate in meetings rather than just transcribing them.
The broader trend for the profession, however, is downward. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of secretaries and administrative assistants has dropped from 3.5 million in 2004—nearly 97% of whom were women—to 2.1 million in 2024. With the exception of medical secretaries, which are projected to grow by 4% through 2034, the BLS expects the field to continue shrinking. Emily Rolen, a lead economist at the BLS, notes that productivity-enhancing technologies, from word processors to scheduling apps, have consistently limited the demand for these roles. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for the broader office and administrative support category recently ticked up to 4%, compared to 3.6% the previous year.
The recent surge in AI presents a unique challenge. A January report from the Brookings Institution warns that clerical and administrative workers are highly exposed to AI-induced displacement. The report highlights that these workers often lack the "adaptive capacity" needed to pivot, citing limited savings, older age, narrow skill sets, and scarce local opportunities. The data underscores the vulnerability of the workforce: about 86% of the 6 million workers in this broader category are women. Furthermore, administrative assistants skew older than the general workforce, have a lower median pay ($47,460 compared to the national median of $49,500), and often only require a high school diploma for entry.
Despite these daunting statistics, many administrative professionals are proving they are highly capable of navigating this technological shift. Danger, for example, facilitates biweekly virtual coffee chats for peers through the American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP), a group with roughly 132,000 members. During a recent session, members shared how they are using AI to draft standard operating procedures, create marketing flyers, scout event venues, and write social media captions. While enthusiasm is high, participants also voiced valid concerns regarding data privacy and the lack of AI regulation, while unanimously agreeing that AI cannot replicate the emotional intelligence and relationship-building skills essential to the job.
The corporate demand for AI-literate administrative staff is also surging. Fiona Young, a former executive assistant who now runs Carve—a company that trains executive assistants in AI—has seen a massive increase in demand since 2023. She has trained administrative professionals at major tech companies like Google, Amazon, Uber, Salesforce, and LinkedIn. According to Young, employers no longer want staff who just vaguely understand AI; they want employees who integrate it into their daily workflows as an essential tool.
Some leaders are taking a hardline approach. Oana Manolache, CEO of Sequel.io, famously stated on LinkedIn last year that she would fire anyone who refuses to use AI. Yet, she acknowledges that AI cannot replace her own executive assistant, Stephanie Martinez. Working remotely from El Salvador through Viva Talent—an agency that matches assistants from Latin and South America with U.S.-based tech companies—Martinez uses AI to automate routine tasks like note-taking and meeting preparation. This frees her up to focus on the "human work" of the role: building team connections, making strategic judgment calls, and managing stakeholder relationships.
Martinez recently demonstrated this strategic value when her company wanted to increase customer reviews on a software platform. She used AI to analyze customer communications, identify ideal candidates for reviews, and draft outreach emails—a task that would have been incredibly time-consuming manually. "The people who truly want to succeed in this role have a massive opportunity," Manolache says, noting that modern assistants have access to information across the entire organization.
However, successfully implementing AI requires more than just access to the tools; it requires time, training, and supportive leadership. Melissa Peoples, an executive assistant coach based in Austin, Texas, points out that many assistants want to adopt AI but lack the bandwidth to figure it out. She also highlights the gender dynamics at play in a field where women are frequently assistants to male executives.
"You see those that are early adopters, and are crushing it, and are partnered with really empowering executives," Peoples explains. "And then you see the other side of this, where literally assistants are being told, ‘You’re not smart enough to be in the room. Just bring me my coffee.'"
Ultimately, Peoples believes that with the right AI training, administrative professionals can elevate their impact, find their voice, and protect their careers as more advanced, agentic AI systems become the norm.