AI AND YOUR JOB · CHECKED OCT 2026
Will AI replace telemarketers?
Largely, yes. BLS projects telemarketer jobs to fall about 21% from 2025 to 2035, citing the Do Not Call registry, caller ID and online ads, and AI voice agents can now dial lists, qualify leads, book meetings and log every call. A 2024 FCC ruling treats AI voices as artificial under phone marketing law, so calls to consumers who never gave consent still need a live caller.
- Tasks from the US Labor Department's O*NET
- Pay and outlook from BLS
- 15 sources
AI EXPOSURE TODAY
High
AI does 4 and helps with 8 of 12 core tasks. 0 are still human.
- AI does it (4)
- AI helps (8)
- Still human (0)
Task by task: what AI can do today
The core tasks of the job, from the US Labor Department's O*NET profile (41-9041.00). Each verdict links to its evidence.
| Task | Verdict | Tools doing it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewrite sales scripts to fit specific customers | AI helps, you check | ChatGPT | An AI writing tool can produce several versions of a pitch for different customer types in seconds, but you know which lines actually keep people on the phone. [8] |
| Call or write to customers to answer letters and follow up on first contacts | AI helps, you check | ChatGPT | AI drafts follow up emails and letters from your call notes, which saves time, though every message should be read before it goes out under the company's name. [8] |
| Record prospects' names, purchases and reactions to each call | AI does this today | ChatGPT, ChatGPT Record | AI calling tools score each prospect against your questions and write the result and transcript to the CRM as the call happens, so the log mostly fills itself and you check it. [9][11] |
| Call businesses or people to sell products or ask for donations | AI helps, you check | Retell AI | AI voice agents can dial thousands of contacts at once, but a 2024 FCC ruling says AI voices count as artificial under the TCPA, so calling home and cell phones of people who never gave consent stays with a live caller. [10][11] |
| Deliver prepared sales talks from a script | AI helps, you check | Retell AI | An AI voice agent can deliver the same pitch on every call to people who agreed to be contacted, while you handle the calls where tone, timing and going off script decide the sale. [10][11] |
| Explain products and prices and answer customer questions | AI helps, you check | Retell AI | AI agents trained on the company's product and price sheets answer common questions mid call, and hand hot or tricky prospects to a person with the transcript attached. [11] |
| Answer calls from people responding to ads | AI does this today | Smith.ai | AI phone agents answer every inbound call, ask qualifying questions and book a time or pass the hot lead to a rep, so a person mostly steps in to close. [12] |
| Take names, addresses and payment details and enter orders | AI helps, you check | Paytia | New payment tools let an AI agent take a card payment while the caller types the number on the keypad and the AI never sees it, but this only launched in 2026 and most order calls still need a person to read back details. [13] |
| Keep records of contacts, accounts and orders in the CRM | AI does this today | HubSpot, HubSpot | AI calling agents read and write to HubSpot or Salesforce during the call, so the record is updated automatically and you mainly decide which leads deserve another try. [11] |
| Find names and phone numbers of potential customers | AI helps, you check | HubSpot | HubSpot's prospecting agent watches existing accounts for buying signals and drafts outreach, but it cannot find new contacts, and the company stays responsible for screening numbers against the Do Not Call list. [11][15] |
| Book appointments for sales reps to meet prospects | AI does this today | Retell AI | AI voice agents check the rep's live calendar and put the meeting on it during the same call, so booking no longer needs a person on the line. [11] |
| Run phone surveys of clients or markets | AI helps, you check | AI phone interviewer | A 2025 test of an AI phone interviewer got 43% of a small panel to finish the survey and most rated it neutral or better, but the sample was tiny and AI voice calls still need prior consent. [10][14] |
The job market for telemarketers
Source: Telemarketers (no full OOH profile; BLS employment projections table). BLS expects this job to shrink 21% over 2025 to 2035.
Where telemarketers can move next
GROWING · $62,280
Insurance sales agent
Agents sell over the phone too, but they hold a state license and keep clients for years, which makes the person hard to replace. Your comfort with calls and objections is a direct fit. [5]
Median pay $62,280 · outlook +3%GROWING · $52,830
Real estate sales agent
Every state requires a license, and buyers want a person they trust guiding the biggest purchase of their lives. Prospecting by phone is a skill new agents often lack. [6]
Median pay $52,830 · outlook +2%STEADY · $76,460
Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative
Business to business reps build long relationships with buyers, and a high school diploma is often enough for nontechnical products. Outbound calling experience transfers well, though job growth is flat. [7]
Median pay $76,460 · outlook 0%AI tools changing this job
Our honest reviews of the tools named above.
Top picks: The Best AI Writing Tool
TELEMARKETER AI PROOF KIT
Want the step by step plan for telemarketers?
We are writing a telemarketer version of our AI Proof Kit: the tools to learn, how to set them up, a raise script and the safest next roles. We write kits in the order people ask for them.
Want to see what a kit looks like? See the bookkeeper kit.
Quick questions
Will AI replace telemarketers?
The job is already disappearing. Employment is projected to fall from 60,900 in 2025 to 47,800 in 2035, about 21% [2], and BLS points to the Do Not Call registry and the move to digital marketing [3] [4]. AI voice agents now handle much of the calling to people who agreed to be contacted [11], though a 2024 FCC ruling means AI voice calls need prior consent [10].
Is telemarketing a dying job?
It is one of the fastest declining occupations BLS tracks for 2025 to 2035 [2]. O*NET still lists about 5,800 openings a year, mostly to replace people who leave [1]. That makes it a short term job for most people rather than a long career.
How much do telemarketers make?
The median telemarketer earned $35,450 a year in 2025, about $17.04 an hour [1] [2]. That is below the national median for all jobs of $50,980 that year [4].
What AI tools do telemarketers use?
AI voice agents such as Retell can work thousands of contacts at once, answer pricing questions, book meetings and write results to the CRM during the call [11]. Writing tools such as ChatGPT draft scripts and follow up letters [8]. The company still owns consent and Do Not Call rules [11], and the FCC treats AI voices as artificial under the TCPA, which requires prior consent [10].
What jobs can telemarketers switch to?
Sales roles that need a license or a lasting relationship hold up better. Insurance agents earned a median $62,280 in 2025 with 3% projected growth [5], and real estate sales agents earned $52,830 with 2% growth [6]. Both rely on the phone skills telemarketers already have.
Sources
Checked 2026-10-10. Verdicts are Leapscope's reading of these sources. We did not test these tools hands on for this page.
- Telemarketers (41-9041.00), O*NET OnLine
- Fastest declining occupations, 2025 to 2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Inside the decline of sales occupations (Beyond the Numbers), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 12 jobs that are set to shrink over the next decade, Business Insider via AOL
- Insurance Sales Agents, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Creating and editing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with ChatGPT Work, OpenAI Help Center
- ChatGPT Record, OpenAI Help Center
- FCC: AI generated robocalls illegal under the TCPA, Cooley
- AI outreach tool for outbound calls at scale, Retell AI
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist review, GetVoIP
- Paytia lets AI agents take card payments without the card ever reaching the AI, PYMNTS
- AI Telephone Surveying: Automating Quantitative Data Collection with an AI Interviewer, arXiv (VKL Research and SSRS)
- HubSpot Breeze AI for Sales in 2026: What each agent does, Salesgear
More jobs: Accountants · Actuaries · Administrative assistants · Architects · Bank tellers · Bookkeepers · Cashiers · Claims adjusters · Computer support specialists · Copywriters · Court reporters · Customer service representatives · Data entry clerks · Data scientists · Electricians · Financial analysts · Graphic designers · Hr specialists · Insurance underwriters · Journalists · Lawyers · Legal secretaries · Loan officers · Management consultants · Market research analysts · Marketing managers · Medical coders · Medical transcriptionists · Paralegals · Payroll clerks · Pharmacists · Photographers · Project managers · Proofreaders · Radiologists · Real estate agents · Receptionists · Registered nurses · Retail salespeople · Sales representatives · Software developers · Tax preparers · Teachers · Technical writers · Translators · Travel agents · Truck drivers · Video editors · Web developers