AI exposure Production
Will AI replace jewelers and precious stone and metal workers?
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers. US occupation 51-9071.
The reading
0.0%
of the time jewelers and precious stone and metal workers spend on their work goes on tasks where AI is already being used to do that work.of jewelers and precious stone and metal workers' working hours go on tasks AI has already started taking off their plate.
Ranked 346 of 756 US occupations. No AI use seen in the work yet, along with 410 other occupations.No handover started yet, along with 410 other occupations.
Per cent of working time Square-law scale
Average US job 7.7%
Among the least exposed jobs there are.Still waiting for liberation.
What AI already does for jewelers and precious stone and metal workersWhat jewelers and precious stone and metal workers no longer do alone
O*NET lists 49 tasks for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers. None of them shows meaningful AI use at work yet.
What it does not touch, yetWhat still needs a human
49 of the 49 tasks show no AI use at work in the data.
- Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items.Core task
- Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems.Core task
- Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.Core task
- Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.Core task
- Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.Core task
- Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.Core task
Show the other 43
- Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.Core task
- Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors.Core task
- Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.Core task
- Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones.Core task
- Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values.Core task
- Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs.Core task
- Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.Core task
- Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams.Core task
- Locate and mark drilling or cutting positions on stones or dies, using diamond chips and power hand tools.Core task
- Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.Core task
- Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.Core task
- Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.Core task
- Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.Core task
- Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.Core task
- Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.Core task
- Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping.Core task
- Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.Core task
- Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds.Core task
- Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.Core task
- Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.Core task
- Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.Core task
- Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.Core task
- Anneal precious metal objects such as coffeepots, tea sets, and trays in gas ovens for prescribed times to soften metal for reworking.
- Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.
- Cut designs in molds or other materials to be used as models in the fabrication of metal and jewelry products.
- Design and fabricate molds, models, and machine accessories, and modify hand tools used to cast metal and jewelry pieces.
- Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.
- Dismantle lapping, boring, cutting, polishing, and shaping equipment and machinery to clean and lubricate it.
- Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them.
- Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes.
- Lap girdles on rough diamonds, using diamond girdling lathes.
- Lay out designs on metal stock, and cut along markings to fabricate pieces used to cast metal molds.
- Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments.
- Place stones in clamps on polishing machines and polish facets of stones, using felt-covered or canvas-covered polishing wheels and polishing compounds such as tripoli and rouge.
- Regrind drill points, and advance drill cutting points according to specifications for channel depths and shapes.
- Regulate the speed of revolutions and reciprocating actions of drilling mechanisms.
- Replace, true, and sharpen blades, drills, and plates.
- Rotate molds to distribute alloys and to prevent formation of air pockets.
- Rout out locations where parts are to be joined to items, using routing machines.
- Secure stones in metal mountings, using solder.
- Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.
- Split gems along pre-marked lines to remove imperfections, using blades and jewelers' hammers.
- Weigh, mix, and melt metal alloys or materials needed for jewelry models.
How that compares
Among the 98 production occupations, jewelers and precious stone and metal workers rank 51. The group averages 0.8%, and its most exposed job is Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers at 12.1%. The average US occupation sits at 7.7%.
Level with 0.0%
What this does and does not mean
Exposure is observed use, not a forecast. Anthropic maps work conversations with Claude onto the tasks O*NET lists for each job and asks, of the tasks AI could speed up, which are actually being used for at work. A use that does the task outright counts in full and a use that assists a person counts half. The task scores are averaged into the occupation figure by the share of time spent on each task.
A high figure means AI is already part of how this work gets done. It does not mean anyone has been replaced. Anthropic's own reading of the labour market finds no systematic rise in unemployment among exposed workers so far, and about 14% fewer 22 to 25 year olds starting exposed jobs.No measurable rise in unemployment among exposed workers so far, and about 14% fewer 22 to 25 year olds starting these jobs. Gap years for everyone. Labor market impacts, 5 March 2026.
Task list and titles from O*NET 31.0 by the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Scores from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY). Checked 1 November 2026. How the ranking works.