Executive Assistants Making $100,000 a Year Lose Jobs to AI

Executive assistants at professional-services firms manage partners’ diaries, handle expenses and book travel in one of the few remaining white-collar roles that doesn’t require elite credentials. They can earn more than $100,000 a year for their trouble, with incentives and bonuses for the highest-ranking. That career path is disappearing as firms like PwC and McKinsey & Co. cut or relocate thousands of support roles to save money and make way for artificial intelligence to take on more work.

PwC’s US arm laid off about 600 executive assistants, recruiters and other support staff in February, according to people familiar with the ...