Will AI replace Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic?

What this score means

Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 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 11 out of 100 it scores 3 points below 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 Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, most central first, showing 12 of 31.

• 01Measure completed workpieces to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers, gauges, calipers, templates, or rulers.
• 02Examine completed workpieces for defects, such as chipped edges or marred surfaces and sort defective pieces according to types of flaws.
• 03Read work orders or production schedules to determine specifications, such as materials to be used, locations of cutting lines, or dimensions and tolerances.
• 04Start machines, monitor their operations, and record operational data.
• 05Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.
• 06Test and adjust machine speeds or actions, according to product specifications, using gauges and hand tools.
• 07Load workpieces, plastic material, or chemical solutions into machines.
• 08Turn controls to set cutting speeds, feed rates, or table angles for specified operations.
• 09Clean work area.
• 10Replace defective blades or wheels, using hand tools.
• 11Plan sequences of operations, applying knowledge of physical properties of workpiece materials.
• 12Lubricate workpieces with oil.

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 Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 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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