Top 5 Jobs in Government That Are Most at Risk from AI in Knoxville - And How to Adapt

Knoxville - and Tennessee more broadly - must treat AI as a workforce and governance challenge, not just a technology opportunity: state leaders at the Government Innovation Showcase warned that AI can improve efficiency while introducing risks like bias, privacy lapses and misinformation, and Tennessee has already blocked certain foreign models and begun deploying LLM gateways and DLP tools to limit exposure (Responsible government use and oversight of AI in Tennessee).

At the same time, the University of Tennessee's AI Tennessee Initiative at the University of Tennessee points to growing AI job demand across sectors - a reminder that clerks, call‑center reps and schedulers face real task-automation risk unless agencies pair governance with worker-centered upskilling and redeployment plans recommended by the DOL's AI best practices for employers, a concrete path to protect public-service careers and preserve trust.

“Through research, workforce development, and industry partnerships, we empower students, professionals, and industries to drive innovation and shape a future of opportunity for Tennessee and the nation.” - Vasileios Maroulas

The methodology combined task-level analysis from the Roosevelt Institute's scan of AI use in public administration with place-based automation research to find Knoxville's five highest‑risk government roles: tasks flagged as high‑risk were routine, high‑volume, and easily specified (data entry, scripted call responses, payroll calculations, permit rule checks, and schedule optimization), especially when paired with heavy public contact or multilingual needs; these task categories mirror the report's sections on communication (chatbots, translation), summarization, and automated determinations (Roosevelt Institute report on AI and government workers).

Risks were weighted by local exposure - Tennessee's elevated automation vulnerability and rural/education disparities from regional analyses informed a higher priority for low‑skill, high‑volume positions (Brookings analysis of automation and its local impacts) - and adjusted for worker burden and oversight costs (the report notes over 75% of workers saw AI increase workload and cites harmful outcomes such as a 50% rise in denials after an Indiana Medicaid modernization), yielding a short list of roles where automation could most quickly displace staff or shift labor onto constituents.

“Failures in AI systems, such as wrongful benefit denials, aren't just inconveniences but can be life‑and‑death situations for people who rely upon government programs.”

Data entry clerks in municipal records and property tax offices face some of the clearest near‑term automation risk because their work - entering, verifying and managing high volumes of standardized records - maps directly onto current AI strengths; AI Quake flags the role with a "Magnitude 3.5 - Noticeable Disruption," noting demand for these repetitive tasks will likely fall as tools get cheaper and more accurate (AI Quake data-entry clerk automation risk).

Federal analysis supports that workers who do routine, low‑complexity tasks are most exposed and that anywhere from about 9% to 47% of jobs could be automated, underscoring why local governments must plan for redeployment and skills training (GAO automation risk and reskilling report).

In Knoxville, automating indexing or form processing without parallel upskilling risks slower service for residents and added oversight burdens; practical responses include human‑AI teaming and targeted reskilling programs to move clerks into verification, records‑management QA, or digitization roles (Strategies for upskilling and human‑AI teaming in government).

Call‑center representatives who staff Knoxville's 311 and other customer‑service lines face a fast‑changing workload as conversational AI and device‑generated alerts rework volume, language needs and triage rules: governments still lag the private sector (only about 45% of public customer‑service centers are automated) yet experts expect up to 33% of emergency calls could come from internet‑connected devices by 2026, a surge that can both swamp staff and create new high‑value oversight tasks (Route Fifty report on AI-generated 911 calls in Tennessee and nationwide).

Tennessee agencies are already piloting solutions - Hamilton County's Prepared Assist adds real‑time transcription, translation, keyword alerts and video‑enhanced T‑CPR so supervisors can join critical calls sooner - showing how AI can speed lifesaving work while shifting routine verifications to humans (Intervision webinar on conversational AI for 311 contact centers and Prepared Assist AI-powered dispatch tools used in Hamilton County).

The bottom line for Knoxville: AI can reduce repetitive interactions and improve language access, but it also creates a new job profile - triage managers and QA specialists who validate AI outputs - so agencies must invest in human‑AI teaming and role redesign now to avoid service gaps.

“For a long time 9‑1‑1 has been like submarine without a periscope, and now we've got a periscope,” said Carney.

Financial clerks who run payroll and benefits in Tennessee state agencies are especially exposed because their core tasks - timekeeping, overtime calculations, leave eligibility and benefits enrollment - map directly onto AI tools that the U.S. Department of Labor warns can mismeasure work and produce systemic wage-and-hour errors; the DOL bulletin cites examples like algorithms that treat waiting time as non‑compensable, schedule unpaid lunch breaks, or automatically “clock out” employees when they move between sites, any of which can create repeated FLSA violations and costly liability without human oversight (DOL Field Assistance Bulletin on AI wage-and-hour compliance (Maynard Nexsen summary)).

In Tennessee - where a state study once flagged some 1.4 million workers as highly likely to be displaced by automation - automating payroll or benefits adjudication too quickly risks underpaying employees, denying rightful leave, and eroding trust in public payroll systems (Tennessee automation risk study - BizJournals (2016)); agencies should keep final pay authorization with trained HR supervisors, establish AI validation checkpoints, and publish clear dispute processes to prevent single‑point algorithmic failures from becoming recurring harms (Local AI adoption guidance for Knoxville government).

Permitting and licensing officers in Knoxville face acute AI disruption because much of their work - checking code compliance, validating plans, and routing inspections - is rule‑based and high volume, which current tools can automate; Knoxville already runs a 24‑hour Knox Permit Portal and an online permitting system that speeds submissions but also raises risks if AI makes unchecked determinations (Knox County Codes Administration permit portal, City of Knoxville Plans Review & Inspections online permitting).

Local specifics matter: Knox County's new scanning policy (no in‑office scans larger than 11x14 after Aug 1, 2024) and recent fee schedule changes mean poorly configured automation could reject valid large‑format plans or misapply updated valuation rules, creating construction delays and costly appeals - a concrete “so what” for contractors and small businesses.

Jurisdictional complexity - such as when a building sits partially inside city limits - already requires human legal judgment (MTAS legal opinion on mixed‑jurisdiction code enforcement), so agencies should keep final approvals with licensed officers, add AI validation checkpoints, and retrain officers for plan‑review QA, appeals handling, and system auditing to preserve safety, fairness, and reliable timelines.

Transportation scheduling coordinators who juggle rostering, route frequency and fleet assignments are highly exposed as Knoxville reshapes service: the KAT Reimagined plan approved April 25, 2024 reworks routes and stops (the map flags moved or discontinued stops with a red X and a Transit app preview tool to help riders), while persistent operator shortages - KAT reported 156 operators out of roughly 200 needed - have already forced service reductions and temporary route eliminations, making real‑time human judgment essential to keep buses running and riders served (KAT Reimagined approved routes and Transit app tools - KAT comprehensive operational analysis, KAT staffing shortfalls and proposed service reductions - KAT workforce update).

AI schedule‑optimization can speed shift assignment and reduce idle miles, but the local “so what” is concrete: without coordinator oversight, automation that ignores operator shortages, sudden service cuts, or stop relocations could leave neighborhoods stranded - so agencies should pair any scheduling tools with human override workflows and cross‑training to keep service reliable during transitions.

“This is a completely unprecedented situation,” says Isaac Thorne, Director of Transit for the City of Knoxville.

Protecting careers in Knoxville's public sector means pairing clear policy with focused reskilling and human‑centered deployment: keep final approvals with licensed staff and HR supervisors, embed mandatory AI validation checkpoints and dispute processes for benefits/payroll, and redesign roles so humans lead QA, triage and appeals rather than being displaced by automation.

Invest in practical, credit‑bearing and short‑course pathways that move workers into those higher‑value jobs - for example, link agency training pipelines to the University of Tennessee's AI Tennessee Initiative at the University of Tennessee and the Applied Artificial Intelligence certificate at UTK (UTK Applied Artificial Intelligence certificate), and offer cohort seats in Nucamp's 15‑week Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp so clerks, call‑center reps and schedulers gain prompt‑writing, oversight and verification skills.

A concrete “so what”: keeping a human in the final decision loop and funding a 12‑credit certificate or a 15‑week bootcamp can prevent algorithmic denial cascades while giving workers clear, marketable pathways out of routine tasks.

“Through research, workforce development, and industry partnerships, we empower students, professionals, and industries to drive innovation and shape a future of opportunity for Tennessee and the nation.” - Vasileios Maroulas