Will AI replace Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders?

What this score means

Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders is among the least exposed roles in Manufacturing. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 12 out of 100 it sits close to the Manufacturing average of 14. Across the 3 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 5 to 20, 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 Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, most central first, showing 12 of 21.

• 01Observe operation of equipment to ensure continuity of flow, safety, and efficient operation, and to detect malfunctions.
• 02Clean, adjust, and maintain equipment, using hand tools.
• 03Tend accessory equipment, such as pumps and conveyors, to move materials or ingredients through production processes.
• 04Move controls to start, stop, or adjust machinery and equipment that crushes, grinds, polishes, or blends materials.
• 05Notify supervisors of needed repairs.
• 06Weigh or measure materials, ingredients, or products at specified intervals to ensure conformance to requirements.
• 07Record data from operations, testing, and production on specified forms.
• 08Reject defective products and readjust equipment to eliminate problems.
• 09Inspect chains, belts, or scrolls for signs of wear.
• 10Clean work areas.
• 11Examine materials, ingredients, or products, visually or with hands, to ensure conformance to established standards.
• 12Read work orders to determine production specifications and information.

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 3 research sources that scored Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
• 02GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 03AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

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