A new report from investment advisory firm SmartAsset provides some insight into what jobs are most at risk due to artificial intelligence and which states could be impacted most by the loss of those jobs, with Nebraska ranking 20th in percent of the workforce that’s at risk.
According to the report, which cited US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, an estimated 31,360 Nebraskans work in occupations said to be most vulnerable to AI disruption, making up just over 3% of the workforce. The state said to be most at risk, Washington, has 5.68% of its workforce in those positions while the state ranked last in the report, Mississippi, came in at 1.9%.
Published on Sept. 14, the SmartAsset report calculated these percentages based on research by the Virginia Economic Information and Analytics Division in 2026 that identified 26 job positions believed to be at the highest risk of potential AI disruption.
The four positions said to be at highest risk of wage pressure, task automation, declining hiring demand, and other forms of disruption brought on by AI include mathematicians, proofreaders, correspondence clerks, and court reporters.
Other jobs found to be vulnerable to AI, beginning with the highest risk and moving down, are as follows: media and communication workers, computer programmers, database administrators, web developers, telephone operators, communications equipment operators, data entry keyers, statistical assistants, office support workers, interpreters and translators, database architects, software quality assurance analysts, medical transcriptionists, software developers, writers and authors, payroll clerks, web designers, miscellaneous computer occupations, insurance claims processors, telemarketers, computer numerically controlled tool programmers, and bookkeeping and accounting clerks.
A related study from SmartAsset in April found Nebraska in the middle of the pack for residents’ adoption of and attitudes involving AI, ranking 27th in AI usage and 30th in ChatGPT queries per capita.
The April report also ranked Nebraska 22nd in jobs created by artificial intelligence and data center development, with just over 108 jobs for every 100,000 residents.
A July executive order from Gov. Jim Pillen put a pause on tax incentives for data center development while creating a task force to study the impact of such development.
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