What kind of worker does artificial intelligence really think like? A new analysis by Herrmann International, in collaboration with MyPerfectResume, shows that the professions most cognitively aligned with ChatGPT aren’t tech developers or data scientists, but rather military officers and medical specialists.
Using Herrmann’s HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument), a thinking styles assessment tool, researchers compared ChatGPT’s cognitive profile with that of 2.5 million professionals across nearly 800 job titles. The findings: ChatGPT’s thinking style is overwhelmingly analytical, logical, and fact-based, closely mirroring the thinking styles of professions such as colonels, cardiologists, and safety engineers, each showing>93% similarity to the AI’s profile.
“Our global research highlights a surprising misconception: for years, repetitive and structured thinking was seen as closest to how AI ‘thinks,’ said Karim Morgan Nehdi, CEO of Herrmann. “But with the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT, we’re seeing AI demonstrate high analytical, as well as medium-to-high visionary and pragmatic thinking styles. This shift makes it more critical than ever for teams to understand their own thinking preferences, so they can truly unlock the potential of AI as a partner in innovation and problem-solving.”
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Key Findings:
- Military and Medical Minds Lead the Pack: Professions most cognitively similar to ChatGPT include colonels, cardiologists, and IT managers, each sharing over 93% alignment with the AI’s analytical thinking profile.
- Creative and Empathic Professions Diverge: Artists, musicians, psychotherapists, and drama teachers showed the least cognitive overlap with ChatGPT (all below 57%), underscoring AI’s current limitations in emotional nuance, creativity, and interpersonal dynamics.
- Operational Roles Also Align Closely: Fire chiefs, air traffic controllers, plumbers, and farmers all exhibited >90% similarity, likely due to their reliance on fast, protocol-driven decisions.
Top Professions That Think Like AI (93%+ similarity):
- Colonel
- Cardiologist
- IT Manager
- Commander
- Radiologist
Surprisingly, manual and operational roles such as fire chiefs, plumbers, and farmers also scored highly, suggesting that AI shares their reliance on fast, rule-bound decision-making and pattern recognition under pressure.
Professions Least Like AI (≤57% similarity):
- Drama Teacher
- Musician
- Psychotherapist
- Painter
These professions rely heavily on emotional nuance, creative improvisation, and subjective interpretation, traits that large language models like ChatGPT currently struggle to emulate.
Why It Matters for the Future of Work:
As AI systems become increasingly embedded in the workplace, understanding how they “think” can help companies redesign roles, balance teams, and upskill talent. Herrmann and MyPerfectResume argue that the future isn’t about replacing humans, but reimagining collaboration between humans and machines.
“Every career is shaped by how we think, not just what we do,” said Jasmine Escalera, career expert at MyPerfectResume, a widely used resume builder. “There’s no one ‘right’ way to think, and that’s a good thing. Whether you’re analytical, creative, empathetic, or visionary, there’s a place for your unique strengths in today’s workplace.”
Additional Highlights:
- Web designers (79%) are less like AI than IT managers (94%), indicating that not all tech roles are equally structured.
- Tax attorneys (93%) share more AI traits than judges (90%), highlighting the role of logic vs. interpersonal reasoning.
- Despite AI’s growing footprint in the workplace, it still lacks core “human” thinking preferences: visionary, pragmatic, and interpersonal modes.
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