Will AI replace Prepress Technicians and Workers?
Estimated risk score: 54 out of 100
Moderate 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 (35 to 73).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 25 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 51-5111.00 · 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: 11 of its 25 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.
- Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.
- Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.
- Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.
- Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.
- Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 4 of its 25 rated tasks; the first 2 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
- Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.
What the job is
Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.
Also called: Prepress Operator, Prepress Technician, Electronic Prepress Operator (EPP Operator), Bankman, Imposer, Scanner, EPP Tech, Stoneman.
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