Will AI replace Brickmasons and Blockmasons?

What this score means

Brickmasons and Blockmasons is among the least exposed roles in Construction & Trades. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 10 out of 100 it scores 3 points below the Construction & Trades average of 13. Across the 5 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 5 to 14, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Brickmasons and Blockmasons, most central first, showing 12 of 14.

• 01Measure distance from reference points and mark guidelines to lay out work, using plumb bobs and levels.
• 02Construct corners by fastening in plumb position a corner pole or building a corner pyramid of bricks, and filling in between the corners using a line from corner to corner to guide each course, or layer, of brick.
• 03Apply and smooth mortar or other mixture over work surface.
• 04Calculate angles and courses and determine vertical and horizontal alignment of courses.
• 05Break or cut bricks, tiles, or blocks to size, using trowel edge, hammer, or power saw.
• 06Interpret blueprints and drawings to determine specifications and to calculate the materials required.
• 07Remove excess mortar with trowels and hand tools, and finish mortar joints with jointing tools, for a sealed, uniform appearance.
• 08Fasten or fuse brick or other building material to structure with wire clamps, anchor holes, torch, or cement.
• 09Clean working surface to remove scale, dust, soot, or chips of brick and mortar, using broom, wire brush, or scraper.
• 10Examine brickwork or structure to determine need for repair.
• 11Mix specified amounts of sand, clay, dirt, or mortar powder with water to form refractory mixtures.
• 12Remove burned or damaged brick or mortar, using sledgehammer, crowbar, chipping gun, or chisel.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 5 research sources that scored Brickmasons and Blockmasons for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
• 02Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
• 03Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
• 04GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
• 05AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)

Common questions

How likely is AI to replace Brickmasons and Blockmasons?

Published research puts Brickmasons and Blockmasons at 10 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 5 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.

Do researchers agree on the risk for Brickmasons and Blockmasons?

Broadly, yes. Individual estimates for Brickmasons and Blockmasons run from 5 to 14 out of 100 across the 5 sources behind this score, a fairly tight range. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

Which construction & trades roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published construction & trades roles to Brickmasons and Blockmasons by score are Carpenters (10/100), Commercial Divers (10/100), and Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers (10/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

Also covers

Adobe Layer · Block Layer · Block Mason · Block Paver · Blockmason · Bottom Liner · Brick Chimney Builder · Brick Dropper and related titles

More construction & trades occupations

• Carpenters10/100
• Commercial Divers10/100
• Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers10/100
• Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters10/100
• Helpers--Carpenters10/100
• Pile Driver Operators10/100
• Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons10/100
• Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas10/100