AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners?

Task-level automation exposure for Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners: 18 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

18% weighted task index

18 of 18 tasks scored

Median Salary

$50,060 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

5,600 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-6.8% employment change

500 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 35 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$33,970 – $75,190

Highest medians

Washington $75,190

Oregon $60,760

Idaho $59,250

Ohio $56,690

Massachusetts $56,600

Lowest medians

Colorado $33,970

Florida $36,880

Tennessee $36,920

Virginia $38,370

Arkansas $38,410

State figures come from the 51-4194 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 18%

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

Physical work 82%

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

Judgment & influence 12%

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 10/100 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

18 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%) 5%

1 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 89%

16 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

#10349 · Core · 25% automatable

Monitor machine operations to determine whether adjustments are necessary, stopping machines when problems occur.

visual inspection — Malfunction detection relies on live physical observation

Watch operating equipment to detect malfunctions. Operate grinding equipment.

#10354 · Core · 30% automatable

Select and mount grinding wheels on machines, according to specifications, using hand tools and applying knowledge of abrasives and grinding procedures.

decision support — Equipment selection against specs; human verifies fit

Select production equipment according to product specifications. Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment.

#10351 · Core · 12% automatable

Set up and operate grinding or polishing machines to grind metal workpieces, such as dies, parts, and tools.

physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel

Operate grinding equipment.

#10350 · Core · 27% automatable

Inspect, feel, and measure workpieces to ensure that surfaces and dimensions meet specifications.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

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

#10355 · Core · 8% automatable

Perform basic maintenance, such as cleaning and lubricating machine parts.

physical manipulation — Physical production equipment maintenance

Clean production equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment. Lubricate production equipment.

#10352 · Core · 8% automatable

Remove finished workpieces from machines and place them in boxes or on racks, setting aside pieces that are defective.

physical manipulation — Physically packaging products for shipment

Remove products or workpieces from production equipment. Package products for storage or shipment.

#10358 · Core · 66% automatable

Study blueprints or layouts of metal workpieces to determine grinding procedures, and to plan machine setups and operational sequences.

visual inspection — Blueprint setup reading partial, human confirms

Study blueprints or other instructions to determine equipment setup requirements. Review blueprints or other instructions to determine operational methods or sequences.

#10348 · Core · 10% automatable

Dress grinding wheels, according to specifications.

physical manipulation — Applying solutions to equipment is manual

Apply solutions to production equipment.

#10356 · Core · 9% automatable

Remove and replace worn or broken machine parts, using hand tools.

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

Remove accessories, tools, or other parts from equipment. Replace worn equipment components.

#20926 · Core · 4% automatable

Fit parts together in pre-assembly to ensure that dimensions are accurate.

physical manipulation — Machine tool assembly is skilled manual work

Assemble machine tools, parts, or fixtures.

#10353 · Core · 8% automatable

File or finish surfaces of workpieces, using prescribed hand tools.

physical manipulation — Hand finishing of metal edges with tools

Smooth metal surfaces or edges.

#10361 · Core · 28% automatable

Inspect dies to detect defects, assess wear, and verify specifications, using micrometers, steel gauge pins, and loupes.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

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

#10357 · Core · 40% automatable

Compute numbers, widths, and angles of cutting tools, micrometers, scales, and gauges, and adjust tools to produce specified cuts.

data analysis — Production requirement calc; human validates inputs

Calculate specific material, equipment, or labor requirements for production. Set equipment controls to meet cutting specifications.

#10359 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Turn valves to direct flow of coolant against cutting wheels and workpieces during grinding.

physical manipulation — Physical valve/control manipulation for coolant

Adjust equipment controls to regulate coolant flow.

#10364 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Attach workpieces to grinding machines and form specified sections and repair cracks, using welding or brazing equipment.

physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading

Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment. Operate welding equipment.

#10363 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Straighten workpieces and remove dents, using straightening presses and hammers.

physical manipulation — Hammering metal is physical hand work

Shape metal workpieces with hammers or other small hand tools.

#10365 · Supplemental · 9% automatable

Place workpieces in electroplating solutions or apply pigments to surfaces of workpieces to highlight ridges and grooves.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Immerse objects or workpieces in cleaning or coating solutions. Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

#10362 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Duplicate workpiece contours, using tracer attachments.

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

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

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

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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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