Will AI replace Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing?
Estimated risk score: 7 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 26).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 26 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 51-7042.00 · 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: 1 of its 26 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Set up, program, or control computer-aided design (CAD) or computer numerical control (CNC) machines.
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 26 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Adjust machine tables or cutting devices and set controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.
- Attach and adjust guides, stops, clamps, chucks, or feed mechanisms, using hand tools.
- Change alignment and adjustment of sanding, cutting, or boring machine guides to prevent defects in finished products, using hand tools.
- Clean or maintain products, machines, or work areas.
- Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
- Feed stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components.
What the job is
Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.
Also called: Frazer, Hooper, Turner, Cleater, Doweler, Inletter, Squeezer, Linderman.
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