Chief Executives

Minimal Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
8.3/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

3% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Managing and developing people

Very important
Why this matters
Motivate, coach, and direct others, and make hiring and staffing decisions. These people-focused responsibilities rely on judgment, trust, and interpersonal skill and are harder to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Negotiation

Very important
Why this matters
Bringing people together to reconcile differences, trade off priorities, and reach agreements—work that depends on trust, persuasion, and reading the situation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Social perceptiveness

Very important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 6 more strengths

Coaching and developing others

Very important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Communicating with people outside the organization

Very important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
Jobs that also use this strength

Developing objectives and strategies

Very important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
Jobs that also use this strength

Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
Jobs that also use this strength

Operations analysis

Quite important
Why this matters
Figure out what people need and what a product must do, then translate those requirements into a workable design.
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What users think

Based on 521 votes

25% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 3% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Chief Executives will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Chief Executives was $206,420 ($99 per hour).

The median annual wage for Chief Executives was 317.0% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Chief Executives' job openings is expected to rise 4.3% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 211,850 people employed as 'Chief Executives' within the United States.

This represents around 0.14% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 727 people are employed as 'Chief Executives'.

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What people are saying (23)

Leave a comment
Laborer (Highly likely)
06 Mar 2026 23:18
Executives are easily replaced as any kind of data analysis position. These spots are the most expensive per person positions and contribute the least to the success of the business. Easy fat to cut.
nobody (Highly likely)
11 Nov 2025 20:16
ai is very good at day to day management of companies on a large scale while there'll still probably be a cel so the government and shareholders have someone to blame if things go wrong the teams of executive will shrink massively
adggfg (Low)
26 Oct 2025 12:31
A chief have their own taste, while ai only have calculating power and a bunch of 1 and 0s. AI is based on human resources and knowledge. They might do well copying repetitive jobs, such as telemakers. However, when we are talking about meals, it is a fundamental part in our living. People have to eat everyday. AI might have the advantage of controlling the stability of meal quality, but everyone have their different taste. To make everyone happy, a chef that is creative, skillful and professional can solve the issue easily. They have experienced everything. Ai doesn't. They are machines, and chefs touches water, fire and greases that can easily break a machine. There are way too many variables in cooking, for a decade, AI will not likely to yake away their jobs, only if people recognise pre-cooked meals, that will be another story.
Laborer
06 Mar 2026 23:19
You're looking for executive chef. This is Chief executive, like a CEO.
T
01 Sep 2025 12:08
I think AI can certainly replace most of what the average CEO does day-to-day as far as rote work goes, but I don’t think these jobs will be 100% automated because CEOs have a disproportionate amount of influence in politics, and I am more than willing to bet CEOs have enough self-preservation instincts to not want to automate themselves out of high paying jobs.

Overall I suspect that CEOs will work together with politicians to tinker with the legal and political environment in a way that ensures everyone else’s job is automated before any risk comes to their own.
Laborer
06 Mar 2026 23:20
CEOs should have no influence in politics
ali (No chance)
19 Nov 2024 17:46
a robot cant do the job like a human can, they cant connect with people like huamans do and to be a successful CEO its about who you know not what you know therefore a robot would be useless
Tim (medium)
02 Jul 2024 16:41
The core role of a CEO is to assess the market and their company position within it and allocate resources to maximise increase in revenue and stock value.

A.I excels at this kind of analysis and decision making. Very few CEO's engage with their staff on a personal level, something AI's are bad at doing.

In short: CEO's should be busy making hay, the sky looks overcast.
Ad (Low)
13 Dec 2023 18:09
Not at all, there aren't any options to replace them cause it's not about manage accounts and finance but more than leadership, creativity which can't be done by robots rather than human itself.
Star (Highly likely)
14 Sep 2023 00:21
It's already had two instances of full automation, and both significantly out perform their human counterparts.

As the primary job requirements are analyzing the market and networking, skills that computers hold significantly in advantage over humans, it's unlikely this job will last much longer.
Joe (Highly likely)
01 May 2023 00:07
A.i are generally better at thinking far ahead even if right now they still lag behind in negotiations
Davis Terrence (Highly likely)
16 Mar 2023 14:22
The CEO position is highly paid due to the large amount of responsibility. AI can make decisions without being influenced outside of Data. No one is afraid of offending an impartial AI CEO so the data given is highest quality. AI is perfect to replace CEOs.
Sarah
26 Nov 2022 02:37
1) I feel it is probable, yet dreadful, that many low-risk jobs with moderate to high pay rates will quickly become oversaturated. These jobs can then be easily replaced by others who accept progressively lower rates of pay.

2) The high-risk jobs will soon become automated and no longer exist.

3) Job growth would be surpassed by the oversaturation of remaining jobs. Few new job fields will open or boom, except perhaps, the robotics field.

4) This could likely lead to mass unemployment and under-employment, resulting in poverty. Companies may then have few buyers for their products and services.
Francisco Javier Gonzalez Cancino (Low)
28 Jun 2021 20:11
Because it is a more creative position, in which you must reason and make decisions, talk to people and manage personnel, you must create a bond
Ju
06 Nov 2020 05:47
I think in the future, most of the work on entrepreneur will be done by humans. For example, I think humans will still be in charge of creative thinking or creating new inventions. But I think artificial intelligence can manage accounting, finance, and staff.
Luca (No chance)
05 Nov 2020 13:43
CEOs lead companies and human intelligence is certainly required. Moreover CEOs are in charge and they will never allow their jobs to be replaced.
Faisal Ali
12 Oct 2020 02:27
When your talking about a chief executive officer it's someone starting his/her own business. Why would a robot take their place as the chief executive officer of the business it's so silly. But your talking about '' Super intelligence '' then because in that time when ASI arises they could become ceo's and get their own business started. That's fine but that doesn't mean humans will never start a business as ceo's. I'd say a robot would work for the CEO of the company.
Nathan N (Low)
14 Sep 2020 05:01
I think that chief executive require people and social skills that robots can no possess, and I believe that no robot is intelligent or advanced enough to handle this role.
Ari (No chance)
02 Sep 2020 13:28
robots just won't be able to perform these tasks nearly as goood and efficently as humans
부영대표얼짱녀
02 Sep 2020 03:36
Robots will not be able to replace human beings because they maintain a good relationship.
John Smith (Highly likely)
11 Nov 2019 02:11
Anyone who thinks they can't be replaced by a robot is delusional. That said, when the times comes, maybe the executives can learn to code?
PLINIO R BELLAS (Low)
26 Aug 2019 19:34
Excelente e muito criativo

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Job description

Determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body. Plan, direct, or coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate executives and staff managers.

O*NET-SOC code: 11-1011.00