Cooks, Private Household
In short: today's best AI models could do about 6% 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 the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 94% of the time, stays with people.
Prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.
1,100 people do this job in the US. $47,940 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Cooks, Private Household, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions (about 2 h); Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues (about 1 h).
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.
- 6%
- 0%
- 94%
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, 5%. Today's estimate: 7%.
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, 0.032% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 262nd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 2 of its 13 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.002% to 0.0064% (released February and March 2025); 0.0024% to 0.0046% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.034% to 0.032% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.002% | 695 of 708 | 1 of 13 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0064% | 557 of 703 | 2 of 13 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0024% | 612 of 655 | 1 of 13 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0039% | 597 of 672 | 1 of 13 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0046% | 577 of 677 | 1 of 13 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.034% | 256 of 434 | 2 of 13 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.032% | 262 of 447 | 2 of 13 |
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 91% of this job's working time as physical work. For 84% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 84% in a purpose-built cell. 0.84 of 3, the 208th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 9%
- No robot shown 7%
- In a purpose-built cell 84%
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 . 13 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Chef Robotics (ChefOS food-assembly robots) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 21% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Circus SE CA-1 (Series 4) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, CA-1 (Circus Autonomy One) Series 4 (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Armstrong Robotics dishwashing system (three 7-DoF arms) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.7 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Chef Robotics meal assembly robots (ChefOS) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, CA-1 Series 4 (Circus SE) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ocado On-Grid Robotic Pick (OGRP) with Ocado bot fleet / OSP customer fulfilment centres (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Create and explore new cuisines.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Travel with employers to vacation homes to provide meal preparation at those locations.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now |
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.
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 Cooks, Private Household is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 7% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 7% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. 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 Cooks, Private Household 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: Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions (100% of the task's time now); and Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Cooks, Private Household stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food; Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff; and Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries. Together such tasks are about 94% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Cooks, Private Household?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.032% went to this job's tasks, the 262nd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 2 of its 13 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 Cooks, Private Household?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 91% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 84% of the working time. Its index is 0.84 of 3. One example: Chef Robotics (ChefOS food-assembly robots) for "direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food". 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 13 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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