Gini Loh System Tools

AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Cooks, Private Household?

Task-level automation exposure for Cooks, Private Household: 13 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

29% weighted task index

13 of 13 tasks scored

Median Salary

$47,940 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

1,100 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+5.1% employment change

5,000 openings a year · BLS line item

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 29%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 59%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 38%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 12/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

13 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 18%

2 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 15%

2 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 67%

9 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#9503 · Core · 6% automatable

Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.

physical manipulation — Dough handling is tactile physical craft

Prepare foods for cooking or serving. Prepare breads or doughs.
#20896 · Core · 5% automatable

Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.

physical manipulation — Manual food preparation

Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
#9501 · Core · 55% automatable

Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.

text generation — Menu drafts aided; cost and kitchen constraints human

Plan menu options.
#9502 · Core · 75% automatable

Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.

decision support — Ordering via systems automatable; human approves spend

Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
#9504 · Core · 6% automatable

Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.

physical manipulation — Cooking requires hands-on manipulation of real food

Cook foods.
#20897 · Core · 85% automatable

Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.

data analysis — Compiling data or documentation is largely automatable

Compile data or documentation.
#9505 · Core · 8% automatable

Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.

physical manipulation — Moving goods in kitchens and storage areas

Store supplies or goods in kitchens or storage areas.
#9508 · Core · 30% automatable

Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.

interpersonal — Coordinating food service staff is live supervisory work

Coordinate activities of food service staff.
#9506 · Core · 5% automatable

Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.

physical manipulation — Manual food preparation

Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
#9509 · Core · 33% automatable

Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.

decision support — Event planning drafts; logistics and vendors need humans

Plan special events. Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
#9507 · Core · 40% automatable

Create and explore new cuisines.

decision support — Recipe ideas generated; taste and kitchen execution human

Create new recipes or food presentations.
#9510 · Core · 4% automatable

Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.

physical manipulation — Carrying and serving food by hand

Serve food or beverages.
#9511 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Travel with employers to vacation homes to provide meal preparation at those locations.

physical manipulation — Manual food preparation

Prepare foods for cooking or serving. Prepare foods or meals.
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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

  1. 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
  2. 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
  3. 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
  4. 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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