Policy Analyst vs Research Scientist: which is more exposed to AI?
Policy Analyst carries 11 points more AI exposure than Research Scientist.
Policy Analyst sits at 59% time-weighted AI exposure against 48% for Research Scientist, an 11-point gap driven by the 52% of policy analyst work time that current models can already substitute outright. Research Scientist holds a larger human-critical core — 52% of the role's time sits in work like "conduct laboratory experiments" that models score poorly on. Both roles sit inside Science & Research, so the exposure difference reflects task design rather than a change of field.
Seven dimensions, side by side.
What actually creates the gap.
Policy Analysts spend 52% of their time-weighted week on tasks a current model can produce end-to-end, against 34% for Research Scientists. The single largest contributor is "summarize legislation and research", graded at 88% and worth 14% of the role's time. That one task accounts for more of the gap than any difference in seniority, tooling, or industry.
- Summarize legislation and research88% · 14% time
- Draft policy briefs and memos86% · 18% time
- Compile comparative policy scans82% · 12% time
- Track legislative developments80% · 8% time
- Testify and defend recommendations12% · 2% time
- Negotiate stakeholder positions14% · 4% time
- Brief decision-makers in person16% · 6% time
- Literature review and synthesis88% · 18% time
- Data analysis and statistical modelling82% · 16% time
- Conduct laboratory experiments12% · 14% time
- Peer review and scientific debate14% · 8% time
- Interpret novel findings and implications18% · 12% time
Both roles lean on cognitive, judgement, procedural — that is the part of your experience that travels intact. The real divide is manual: Research Scientists score 52 there against 2 for Policy Analysts, a 50-point spread. That is the gap you would actually have to close.
| DIMENSION | POLICY ANALYST | RESEARCH SCIENTIST |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | 2 | 52 |
| Creative | 40 | 74 |
Research Scientist appears in our dataset as a mapped adjacent career for Policy Analysts: the move lowers exposure by 11 points, landing at 48%. Switch difficulty reads moderate — capability profiles are 26 points apart on average and both sit in the same family.
Score your own exposure in 8 questions →Common questions.
Is Policy Analyst or Research Scientist more at risk from AI?
Policy Analyst. It scores 59% time-weighted AI exposure against 48% for Research Scientist — an 11-point gap. 52% of policy analyst work time is already fully substitutable by current models, versus 34% for Research Scientists.
Which pays more, Policy Analyst or Research Scientist?
Research Scientist, by roughly $48k at the median ($124k versus $76k). Note that the higher-paying role here is also the less AI-exposed one, which matters if you are weighing pay against durability.
Can a policy analyst switch to being a research scientist?
Research Scientist appears in our dataset as a mapped adjacent career for Policy Analysts: the move lowers exposure by 11 points, landing at 48%. Switch difficulty reads moderate — capability profiles are 26 points apart on average and both sit in the same family.
Which role is growing faster, Policy Analyst or Research Scientist?
Research Scientist, at 8% projected ten-year growth versus 5% — a 3-point difference. Growth and AI exposure are separate signals: a role can grow in headcount while the content of the work is substantially rewritten.