Will AI replace desktop publishers? The data

Desktop publishers use computer software to design page layouts for items that are printed or published online. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics lists their duties as reviewing text and graphics from writers and designers, editing photographs and illustrations, importing content into publishing software, combining images and text into layouts, adjusting type size, column width and spacing, revising layouts and making corrections, and submitting files for printing or online publication. About 35 percent work in publishing and broadcasting, and about 20 percent are self employed.

The short answer: this is a shrinking job, though the BLS puts the decline down to other workers and electronic publishing rather than AI. The ILO's 2025 index rates pre-press technicians, the closest group, at gradient 1 with a score of 0.38. The BLS projects employment to decline 14 percent from 2025 to 2035, from about 4,600 to 4,000 jobs, with about 300 openings a year. Projections are estimates, not guarantees.

How exposed desktop publishers are

The International Labour Organization scores occupations' tasks from 0 (cannot be automated with generative AI) to 1 (could be done without a human operator), and groups them into gradients from 1 to 4, with 4 the most exposed; below them sit minimal exposure and not exposed (ILO Working Paper 140, 2025).

Laying out pages, placing images and fixing type are tasks that design software and generative AI tools increasingly automate or put in the hands of non specialists, which places the closest group in the exposed gradients.

What the BLS projects

The BLS says companies are expected to hire fewer desktop publishers as desktop publishing tasks are increasingly done by other workers, such as graphic designers, web designers and editors. It adds that as organizations publish more material electronically instead of printing it, fewer desktop publishers will be needed.

Where AI is helping

• Layout templates and automatic page composition in publishing software.
• Image editing, resizing and background removal.
• Reformatting the same content for print, web and mobile.

What stays with desktop publishers

• Typography and layout judgment: making a page readable and right for its audience.
• Production: preparing files that print correctly, with the right colors, bleeds and resolution.
• Corrections: catching the errors that automated layout and AI introduce.
• Checking AI help: generated text and captions can be wrong, which NIST calls confabulation (NIST AI 600-1). See checking AI output.

How the job is changing

Layout is becoming a skill many roles share rather than a job of its own. People in the field can move toward broader design, web and editorial work, which the BLS names as the jobs taking over these tasks. The BLS says desktop publishers typically need an associate's degree and about a month of on the job training. This page is general information, not career advice.

See also will AI replace graphic designers?, will AI replace editors?, will AI replace web developers? and AI generated work and copyright.

Pay and how to get in

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual pay for desktop publishers at $55,290 in May 2025, against $50,980 for all workers. The typical education needed to enter is: associate's degree. See how this job compares in AI exposure by pay and AI exposure by education level.