OBSERVED IN REAL USE · Anthropic 2026
3%
of this role’s work is already showing up in real Claude usage (Anthropic Economic Index).
Lightly singed at worst. Carry on.
26% of this role’s O*NET tasks are within reach of today’s AI. That is the core-weighted exposure score from Eloundou et al. 2023 (“GPTs are GPTs”). It measures a capability ceiling, not a headcount forecast. Mostly safe. AI helps around the edges, but the job stays human.
WHAT AI CAN ALREADY DO
- Estimate costs for patternmaking jobs
- Maintain pattern records for reference
- Compute dimensions, areas, volumes, and weights
- Inventory equipment and supplies, ordering parts and tools as necessary
- Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups
WHAT IT STILL CAN’T
- Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws
- Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools
- Verify dimensions of completed patterns, using templates, straightedges, calipers, or protractors
- Correct patterns to compensate for defects in castings
- Set up, operate, and adjust a variety of woodworking machines such as bandsaws and lathes to cut and shape sections, parts, and patterns, according to specifications
THE HONEST PART. A percentage is not a pink slip. High exposure usually means a role shrinks and shifts toward judgment, direction and responsibility: the parts a model can’t sign its name to. Exposure ≠ displacement. Breathe.
"My job is 26% cooked. What’s yours?"
SOURCES: O*NET 30.3 occupational tasks · Eloundou et al. 2023 (“GPTs are GPTs”,
arXiv:2303.10130) · Anthropic Economic Index 2026 (CC-BY) |
how this is calculated |
last updated 2026-07-16