Will AI replace Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders?

What this score means

Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine 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 20 out of 100 it sits close to the Manufacturing average of 19. Across the 5 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 6 to 58, 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 Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders, most central first, showing 12 of 19.

• 01Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
• 02Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
• 03Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
• 04Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
• 05Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
• 06Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.
• 07Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.
• 08Signal coworkers to synchronize flow of materials.
• 09Read work orders to determine quantities and types of products to be baked, dried, or roasted.
• 10Fill or remove product from trays, carts, hoppers, or equipment, using scoops, peels, or shovels, or by hand.
• 11Take product samples during or after processing for laboratory analyses.
• 12Test products for moisture content, using moisture meters.

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 Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine 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 · 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 Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders?

Published research puts Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders at 20 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 Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders?

Only partly. Individual estimates for Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders run from 6 to 58 out of 100 across the 5 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.

Which manufacturing roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published manufacturing roles to Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders by score are Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders (20/100), Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic (20/100), and Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic (20/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

Also covers

Automatic Oven Operator · Bakery Production Associate · Bakery Production Worker · Bakery Worker · Baking Assistant · Bean Roaster · Belt Conveyor Drier · Bone Char Kiln Operator and related titles

More manufacturing occupations

• Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders20/100
• Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic20/100
• Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic20/100
• Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders20/100
• Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic20/100
• Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders20/100
• Model Makers, Metal and Plastic20/100
• Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders20/100