AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers?

Task-level automation exposure for Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers: 19 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Automation Exposure

21% weighted task index

19 of 19 tasks scored

Median Salary

$46,170 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Medium

33,190 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+5.8% employment change

5,100 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 48 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$35,620 – $57,860

Highest medians

Montana $57,860

Hawaii $55,990

Oregon $52,740

Connecticut $52,520

Washington $51,780

Lowest medians

Arkansas $35,620

Alabama $36,730

Wyoming $37,510

Mississippi $37,580

North Carolina $38,190

State figures come from the 51-9195 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

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 21%

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

Physical work 68%

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

Judgment & influence 19%

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

Routine administration 6%

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 35/100 Moderate

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

19 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) 6%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 19%

3 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 75%

15 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 →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 08/2026 · Occupational Expert

Apply surface decorations, such as colored glass, enamels, and lusters.

Constituent Tasks

#12632 · Core · 8% automatable

Heat glass to pliable stage, using gas flames or ovens and rotating glass to heat it uniformly.

physical manipulation — Heating workpieces requires physical operation

Heat material or workpieces to prepare for or complete production.

#12635 · Core · 3% automatable

Shape, bend, or join sections of glass, using paddles, pressing and flattening hand tools, or cork.

physical manipulation — Glass shaping is skilled manual hot work

Shape glass or similar materials.

#12633 · Core · 3% automatable

Blow tubing into specified shapes to prevent glass from collapsing, using compressed air or own breath, or blow and rotate gathers in molds or on boards to obtain final shapes.

physical manipulation — Glass shaping is skilled manual hot work

Shape glass or similar materials.

#12645 · Core · 8% automatable

Cut lengths of tubing to specified sizes, using files or cutting wheels.

physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting

Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing.

#12630 · Core · 25% automatable

Inspect, weigh, and measure products to verify conformance to specifications, using instruments such as micrometers, calipers, magnifiers, or rulers.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

Weigh finished products. Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications.

#12637 · Core · 50% automatable

Develop sketches of glass products into blueprint specifications, applying knowledge of glass technology and glass blowing.

visual inspection — AI drafts blueprints; manufacturability and tolerances human

Create diagrams or blueprints for workpieces or products.

#12631 · Core · 82% automatable

Record manufacturing information, such as quantities, sizes, or types of goods produced.

data analysis — Record production data into structured logs

Record operational or production data.

#12638 · Core · 58% automatable

Determine types and quantities of glass required to fabricate products.

decision support — Input material selection from specs; human approves

Select production input materials.

#12647 · Core · 35% automatable

Design and create glass objects, using blowpipes and artisans' hand tools and equipment.

physical manipulation — Jewelry design needs craft and material judgment

Design jewelry or decorative objects.

#12649 · Core · 11% automatable

Operate and maintain finishing machines to grind, drill, sand, bevel, decorate, wash, or polish glass or glass products.

physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel

Operate grinding equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment.

#20829 · Core · 9% automatable

Operate electric kilns that heat and mold glass sheets to the shape and curve of metal jigs.

physical manipulation — Physical control of heating/drying equipment

Shape glass or similar materials. Operate heating or drying equipment.

#12641 · Core · 9% automatable

Place electrodes in tube ends and heat them with glass burners to fuse them into place.

physical manipulation — Connecting electrical components is manual work

Heat material or workpieces to prepare for or complete production. Connect electrical components or equipment.

#12643 · Supplemental · 7% automatable

Strike necks of finished articles to separate articles from blowpipes.

physical manipulation — Manual trimming of workpieces

Trim excess material from workpieces. Cut glass.

#12639 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Place rubber hoses on ends of tubing and charge tubing with gas.

physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading

Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.

#12646 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Place glass into dies or molds of presses and control presses to form products, such as glassware components or optical blanks.

physical manipulation — Manual placement of materials into molds

Place materials into molds.

#12648 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Repair broken scrolls by replacing them with new sections of tubing.

physical manipulation — Hands-on removal and fitting of worn components

Replace worn equipment components. Repair production equipment or tools.

#12644 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Spray or swab molds with oil solutions to prevent adhesion of glass.

physical manipulation — Applying parting agents is manual mold prep

Apply parting agents or other solutions to molds.

#12640 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Superimpose bent tubing on asbestos patterns to ensure accuracy.

physical manipulation — Drawing guide lines on materials is hands-on

Draw guide lines or markings on materials or workpieces using patterns or other references.

#12634 · Supplemental · 18% automatable

Set up and adjust machine press stroke lengths and pressures and regulate oven temperatures, according to glass types to be processed.

physical manipulation — Manual temperature control adjustment

Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
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. 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. 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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