Will AI replace Etchers and Engravers?
Estimated risk score: 14 out of 100
Very low replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (0 to 33).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 30 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 51-9194.00 · Production
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 2 of its 30 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Measure and compute dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved.
- Use computer software to design patterns for engraving.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 23 of its 30 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Clean and polish engraved areas.
- Adjust depths and sizes of cuts by adjusting heights of worktables, or by adjusting machine-arm gauges.
- Brush or wipe acid over engraving to darken or highlight inscriptions.
- Determine machine settings, and move bars or levers to reproduce designs on rollers or plates.
- Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools.
- Expose workpieces to acid to develop etch patterns such as designs, lettering, or figures.
What the job is
Engrave or etch metal, wood, rubber, or other materials. Includes such workers as etcher-circuit processors, pantograph engravers, and silk screen etchers.
Also called: Etcher, Photo Engraver, Chemical Engraver, Re-Etcher, Glass Etcher, Leaf Stamper, Plate Cutter, Wax Engraver.
Related jobs, estimated
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate