Will AI replace electrical engineers?

Not replace, but it is changing the job. About 40m of an 8-hour shift goes to tasks touched by AI working on its own. The other 7h 20m (92%) stays with people. Separately, BLS expects about 9.9% more of these jobs by 2035 (all jobs: +3.5%).

AI shows up regularly in 4 of 22 tasks, about 40m of a typical shift. The biggest ones:

• Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems. (11m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)
• Estimate labor, material, or construction costs for budget preparation purposes. (11m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)
• Conduct field surveys or study maps, graphs, diagrams, or other data to identify and correct power system problems. (11m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)
• Collect data relating to commercial or residential development, population, or power system interconnection to determine operating efficiency of electrical systems. (6m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)

Not in workplaces like this one, based on a 2026 review of robot deployments. For 1 physical task, no robot has shown it can do the work yet.

7h 20m of a typical shift, or 92%, goes to tasks with no AI or robot evidence yet. No AI usage or robot deployment has shown up for these so far. The biggest:

• Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes. (1h 20m a shift)
• Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products. (51m a shift)
• Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks. (46m a shift)
• Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget. (34m a shift)
• Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements. (29m a shift)

We track 2 sourced company moves that affect this job. Most recent:

• Feb 10, 2026: Cadence launches AI agent for chip design and verification (Rolling out)
• Nov 25, 2025: AECOM buys AI engineering startup Consigli (Announced)

For the 1 task in this job where AI shows up and timing data exists, a typical request takes about 1h 29m for a person alone and about 23m with AI. These are Claude's own estimates from real conversations in April and May 2026 (Anthropic Economic Index). They describe single requests, not whole workdays, and time saved on a task doesn't mean jobs are cut. The biggest gaps:

• Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems (about 1h 29m alone, 23m with AI)

On Indeed, job postings in the Electrical Engineering sector are at 153% of their February 2020 level (all U.S. postings: 104%), up 32.4% from a year earlier, as of Oct 9, 2026. BLS separately expects about 11,000 openings a year in this job through 2035. Across all U.S. postings, 7.3% now mention AI skills. Sector postings cover more than this one job and move for many reasons besides AI.

The median pay is about $120,630 a year ($58.00 an hour), 137% above the median for all U.S. jobs ($50,980). Most people in this job earn between $76,550 and $184,300 a year; that range covers the middle 80%. Pay figures are from BLS, May 2025, and vary a lot by state and employer.

BLS projects growth of 9.9% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% growth for all jobs. That's about 220,000 jobs in 2035. It expects about 11,000 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing careers. These projections don't single out AI as a cause.

About 199,000 people in the U.S., roughly 0.13% of all workers (BLS, May 2025). That makes it the 172nd largest of the 796 jobs on this site. BLS expects about 220,000 in 2035.

The most common requirement is a bachelor's degree: about 82% of people in the job said so in the official O*NET survey. O*NET rates the job at level 4 of 5 for preparation, which usually means: bachelor's degree. Requirements vary by state and employer, especially for licensed work.

These come from the job's official skill ratings and from the tasks that AI and robots touch least today. Building them keeps you strong in the parts of the work that still need a person:

• Skills that matter more here than in most jobs: Operations Analysis, Writing, Active Learning, Mathematics
• Get strong at the parts of the job that stay with people (listed above), which take 7h 20m of a typical shift
• Tools employers list: The MathWorks MATLAB, Python, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Excel
• Learn to use AI well on the tasks where it already shows up in this job (listed above)

These use similar skills, with less of a typical shift touched by AI or robots. Matches come from 109 official ratings of skills, knowledge and work activities, and each needs the same or less preparation unless the official list relates the jobs directly:

• Solar Energy Systems Engineers (0m touched, $123k median pay)
• Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers (0m touched, $115k median pay)
• Nuclear Engineers (0m touched, $134k median pay)
• Materials Engineers (0m touched, $113k median pay)

Each task carries its own evidence label. For this job: 4 observed in real AI use, 18 with no AI or robot evidence found. The minutes per task are estimates, not measured hours, and "no evidence" doesn't prove a task is safe.