2025 State of AI in the Executive Assistant Industry

In case you’re new here, CCing my EA is a bite-sized newsletter dedicated to Executive Assistants.

Every now and then, we share our learnings about the EA industry and culture. 📝

Table of Contents

• Background

• Adoption of AI by Executive Assistants

• Top AI Tools Executive Assistants Use & Want

• Job Security Concerns Around AI

• Our Takeaway

Background

“Will AI replace Executive Assistants?”

It’s a question we hear all the time…

With AI rapidly evolving, many Executive Assistants worry about job security. Even at Vimcal, we’re often asked whether our calendar software is designed to replace EAs (absolutely not).

This report covers:

• How EAs are currently using AI

• How EAs would like to use AI

• Concerns about AI’s impact on EA jobs

Our goal is to cut through the AI noise and provide a realistic overview of AI adoption in the Executive Assistant industry — what’s working, what’s not, and what’s coming next.

Adoption of AI by Executive Assistants

Roughly one-quarter of Executive Assistants are now using AI tools in their work.

According to ASAP’s 2024 report based on their survey of 3,916 North American administrative professionals (3,421 support executives, 495 non-executive support), 26% reported using some form of AI on the job.

Most notably, Executive Assistants (those who support executives) were 42% more likely to use AI than other admin professionals (27% vs 19%)​.

In the meanwhile, Executive Assistants working in the Technology and Software industry were by far the most likely to use AI tools than EAs in any other sector, exceeding the average by 58%.

On the other side, Executive Assistants in Healthcare and Medical or Government and Non-profit industries were half as likely to use AI tools when compared to EAs in Technology and Software.

Top AI Tools Executive Assistants Use & Want

Among Executive Assistants who do use AI, generative AI and writing assistants dominate, with ChatGPT being the most widely used tool.

86% of AI-using Executive Assistants reported using ChatGPT, followed by 44% using Grammarly, which illustrates how chatbots and writing aides are the predominant way EAs currently leverage AI.

Zooming into the top performing Executive Assistants, based on a survey of 60 of the top 1% of Executive Assistants by Boldly, 93% of respondents said they were currently exploring or already confident in where AI could fit into their work. This indicates that while most EAs are not yet using AI, the vast majority are proactively considering AI applications.

When asked what parts of their job they hoped AI would solve, nearly a quarter of the Executive Assistants Boldly surveyed highlighted organizing travel as the top use case, followed by writing (16%) and calendar management (14%).

^{Data from 60 Top 1% Executive Assistants Weigh In On AI Productivity Tools}

These use cases would likely result in massive time savings as well. In a case study conducted by the Buckinghamshire Council, Tony Ellis, Service Director for IT, found that Executive Assistants using Microsoft 365 Copilot saved ~25 hours per month on routine tasks​.

Interestingly, top Executive Assistants reported they were the least likely to use AI for “inbox management, event planning, expense reporting, and taking notes at meetings”, with the main 3 reasons being constantly changing executive preferences, skepticism regarding the accuracy of AI, and simply being blocked by their organizations’ or vendors’ processes.

Overall, Executive Assistants are most excited about AI features that automate their most repetitive and time-intensive chores. By offloading tasks like travel booking, writing, and meeting scheduling to AI, EAs could redirect their efforts to more strategic activities — the “impactful work” that truly adds value such as project management, process improvement, and being a thought partner to their executives.

Job Security Concerns Around AI

According to a 2023 CNBC|SurveyMonkey survey of 8,874 U.S. workers, only 24% of respondents were worried AI could make their jobs obsolete.

However, this is in stark contrast to respondents in Business Support and Logistics roles who were twice as likely to fear AI taking their jobs soon (46%). This indicates that nearly 1 in 2 people in Executive Assistant-like positions fear AI could displace them. Given the rapid advancements in AI within the last year alone though, this number is likely now higher.

This elevated concern by Executive Assistants may stem from the perception that many EA tasks (scheduling, booking, basic communications) could be automated by smart assistants.

On the flip side, many Executive Assistants see AI as a tool to eliminate drudgery rather than eliminate their position. As Julie Perrine, EA turned founder of All Things Admin, emphasized, “some executive assistants see AI as a threat, and think it will replace them. Nothing could be further from the truth.”​

AI will augment the Executive Assistant role, not replace it. AI still lacks the judgment and strategic context that human assistants provide. For example, while AI can draft an email, it takes an EA’s understanding of office politics to know how or even if that email should be sent.

The 2025 EA is a tech-savvy strategic partner, proficient in AI tools but most importantly, an expert in the interpersonal and organizational skills their executives rely on.

Executive assistants have evolved through waves of new technology before — from typewriters to computers to the internet. AI is merely the next wave of new technology. Those who leverage AI will be high in demand, thus solidifying their role.

For now, it’s fair to say a significant minority of EAs are anxious about AI’s impact on their jobs, but the majority are (and should be!) cautiously optimistic.

Our Takeaway

While AI helps with drudgery, the Executive Assistant is a uniquely human-centric role that isn’t going anywhere. As long as there are executives, there will exist assistants and strategic partners.

At Vimcal, we believe that AI isn’t a threat to Executive Assistants — it’s an advantage. With that said, if you’re one of the 73% of Executive Assistants who are not yet utilizing AI technology, we strongly encourage you to begin incorporating AI technology in your day-to-day work life to stay ahead.

As more and more tedious tasks can be handled by AI, Executive Assistants will be freed up to take on more strategic initiatives. These range from coordinating projects and improving office processes to providing critical decision support. AI is essentially the catalyst for EAs to shift from being “doers” of tasks to becoming “strategic enablers” in their organizations.

Core Executive Assistant skills like communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving will forever remain important. As AI handles more routine tasks, EAs will naturally double down on their uniquely human strengths like emotional intelligence, negotiation, relationship management.

At Vimcal, we believe the real value of an Executive Assistant lies not in their ability to schedule for their executives, but rather in the EA’s interpersonal and relationship management skillsets.

And that’s exactly why we designed Vimcal EA to take tedious scheduling tasks off of EAs’ plates — so they can focus their attention on what makes them irreplaceable. ❤️

Methodology

We’ve been wanting to dive into AI’s impact on Executive Assistants for over a year now. Thankfully, earlier last week, OpenAI released their Deep Research update for ChatGPT.

This allowed us to complete what once would have taken us months and thousands of dollars in just a single week.

Every reference has been carefully verified for accuracy and relevance.

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CCing my EA is brought to you by Vimcal EA — the first calendar designed for Executive and Administrative Assistants who schedule on behalf of others.

Our mission is simple: to take tedious scheduling tasks off your plate so you can focus your attention on your strategic work.

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