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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Rock Splitters, Quarry?
Task-level automation exposure for Rock Splitters, Quarry: 9 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
10%
weighted task index
9 of 9 tasks scored
Median Salary
$48,740 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
3,320 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.8%
employment change
400 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 20 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$22,810 – $66,000
Highest medians
Massachusetts $66,000
Vermont $65,420
Wisconsin $62,000
California $61,620
Missouri $60,990
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $22,810
Idaho $35,880
Georgia $42,320
Kansas $42,560
Kentucky $44,000
State figures come from the 47-5051 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 10%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 86%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 9%
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 28/100
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
9 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) 0%
0 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%
0 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 100%
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
#14966 · Core · 20% automatable
Locate grain line patterns to determine how rocks will split when cut.
visual inspection — Stone grading needs hands-on sensory inspection
Examine physical characteristics of natural stone or stone products.
#14967 · Core · 8% automatable
Remove pieces of stone from larger masses, using jackhammers, wedges, and other tools.
physical manipulation — Breaking rock and concrete is physical labor
Break up rock, asphalt, or concrete.
#14968 · Core · 8% automatable
Insert wedges and feathers into holes, and drive wedges with sledgehammers to split stone sections from masses.
physical manipulation — Breaking rock and concrete is physical labor
Break up rock, asphalt, or concrete.
#14969 · Core · 8% automatable
Mark dimensions or outlines on stone prior to cutting, using rules and chalk lines.
physical manipulation — Marking reference points is hands-on site work
Mark reference points on construction materials.
#14970 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Cut slabs of stone into sheets that will be used for floors or counters.
physical manipulation — Masonry cutting requires skilled manual work
Cut tile, stone, or other masonry materials.
#14971 · Supplemental · 6% automatable
Set charges of explosives to split rock.
physical manipulation — Detonation equipment handled with physical safety
Operate detonation equipment.
#14972 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Drill holes along outlines, using jackhammers.
physical manipulation — Breaking rock and concrete is physical labor
Break up rock, asphalt, or concrete.
#14973 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Drill holes into sides of stones broken from masses, insert dogs or attach slings, and direct removal of stones.
interpersonal — Directing crews in the field is human leadership work
Drill holes in earth or rock. Direct construction or extraction personnel.
#14974 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Cut grooves along outlines, using chisels.
physical manipulation — Masonry cutting requires skilled manual work
Cut tile, stone, or other masonry materials.
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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
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