Agricultural Inspectors
In short: today's best AI models could do about 20% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 39% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 58% of the time, stays with people.
Inspect agricultural commodities, processing equipment, and facilities, and fish and logging operations, to ensure compliance with regulations and laws governing health, quality, and safety.
14,410 people do this job in the US. $49,940 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on8 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet9 h
- Stays with people23 h
Agricultural Inspectors, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 8 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 9 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 23 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Take emergency actions, such as closing production facilities, if product safety is compromised (about 2 h); Provide consultative services in areas such as equipment or product evaluation, plant construction or layout, or food safety systems (about 2 h); Write reports of findings and recommendations and advise farmers, growers, or processors of corrective action to be taken (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 42%
- 2%
- 56%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 9%. Today's estimate: 20%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 347th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 22 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.021% to 0.025% (released February and March 2025); 0.0046% to 0.0061% (August 2025 to February 2026); none to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.021% | 443 of 708 | 3 of 22 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.025% | 389 of 703 | 5 of 22 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0046% | 539 of 655 | 2 of 22 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0065% | 536 of 672 | 3 of 22 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0061% | 555 of 677 | 3 of 22 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 347 of 447 | 1 of 22 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 77% of this job's working time as physical work. For 15% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 15% in a purpose-built cell. 0.15 of 3, the 477th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 23%
- No robot shown 62%
- In a purpose-built cell 15%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 22 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor the operations and sanitary conditions of slaughtering or meat processing plants.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Set standards for the production of meat or poultry products or for food ingredients, additives, or compounds used to prepare or package products.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 18%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Review and monitor foreign product inspection systems in countries of origin to ensure equivalence to the U.S. system.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | 5%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Inspect food products and processing procedures to determine whether products are safe to eat.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect agricultural commodities or related operations, as well as fish or logging operations, for compliance with laws and regulations governing health, quality, and safety.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine, weigh, and measure commodities, such as poultry, eggs, meat, or seafood to certify qualities, grades, and weights.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, IRIS GDR (JBT Marel poultry vision grading) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Take emergency actions, such as closing production facilities, if product safety is compromised.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 96%Half by now | |
| Provide consultative services in areas such as equipment or product evaluation, plant construction or layout, or food safety systems.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Verify that transportation and handling procedures meet regulatory requirements.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor the grading performed by company employees to verify conformance to standards.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TOMRA Spectrim / TOMRA 5S Advanced / Inspectra2 (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect the cleanliness and practices of establishment employees.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect or test horticultural products or livestock to detect harmful diseases, chemical residues, or infestations and to determine the quality of products or animals.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Construction and Building Inspectors49% now, 51% by 2028
- Food Science Technicians25% now, 25% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers23% now, 24% by 2028
- Aviation Inspectors24% now, 26% by 2028
- Agricultural Technicians6% now, 9% by 2028
- Occupational Health and Safety Technicians56% now, 60% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Agricultural Inspectors is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 20% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 40% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (31% to 42% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Agricultural Inspectors come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Take emergency actions, such as closing production facilities, if product safety is compromised (96% of the task's time now); Provide consultative services in areas such as equipment or product evaluation, plant construction or layout, or food safety systems (100% of the task's time now); and Write reports of findings and recommendations and advise farmers, growers, or processors of corrective action to be taken (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Agricultural Inspectors stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor the operations and sanitary conditions of slaughtering or meat processing plants; Inspect food products and processing procedures to determine whether products are safe to eat; and Inspect agricultural commodities or related operations, as well as fish or logging operations, for compliance with laws and regulations governing health, quality, and safety. Together such tasks are about 58% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Agricultural Inspectors?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 347th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 22 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Agricultural Inspectors?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 77% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 15% of the working time. Its index is 0.15 of 3. One example: IRIS GDR (JBT Marel poultry vision grading) for "examine, weigh, and measure commodities, such as poultry, eggs, meat, or seafood to certify qualities, grades, and weights". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 22 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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