Costume Attendants
In short: today's best AI models could do about 14% 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 86% of the time, stays with people.
Select, fit, and take care of costumes for cast members, and aid entertainers. May assist with multiple costume changes during performances.
6,510 people do this job in the US. $50,400 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on6 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people34 h
Costume Attendants, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 34 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Create worksheets for dressing lists, show notes, or costume checks (about 2 h); Participate in the hiring, training, scheduling, or supervision of alteration workers (about 2 h); Study books, pictures, or examples of period clothing to determine styles worn during specific periods in history (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.
- 14%
- 2%
- 84%
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: 14%.
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, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 21 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.01% to 0.016% (released February and March 2025); 0.002% to 0.0072% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.01% | 532 of 708 | 2 of 21 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.016% | 449 of 703 | 5 of 21 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.002% | 625 of 655 | 1 of 21 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0069% | 530 of 672 | 3 of 21 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0072% | 535 of 677 | 2 of 21 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 21 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 21 |
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 80% of this job's working time as physical work. For 44% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 44% in a purpose-built cell. 0.44 of 3, the 328th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 20%
- No robot shown 36%
- In a purpose-built cell 44%
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 . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design or construct costumes or send them to tailors for construction, major repairs, or alterations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 42% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Provide dressing assistance to cast members or assign cast dressers to assist specific cast members with costume changes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and press costumes before and after performances and perform any minor repairs.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, sewts VELUM (FANUC M-10iD) in industrial laundry line (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Direct the work of wardrobe crews during dress rehearsals or performances.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Distribute costumes or related equipment and keep records of item status.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Metalprogetti automated garment conveyor with Battista UNI software (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Create worksheets for dressing lists, show notes, or costume checks.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Arrange costumes in order of use to facilitate quick-change procedures for performances.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Metalprogetti Laundry Sorting System (dispatch conveyor) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Participate in the hiring, training, scheduling, or supervision of alteration workers.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Monitor, maintain, or secure inventories of costumes, wigs, or makeup, providing keys or access to assigned directors, costume designers, or wardrobe mistresses/masters.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TORY (MetraLabs) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine costume fit on cast members and sketch or write notes for alterations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Collaborate with production designers, costume designers, or other production staff to discuss and execute costume design details.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Check the appearance of costumes on stage or under lights to determine whether desired effects are being achieved.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 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.
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 Costume Attendants is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 14% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 14% 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 Costume Attendants 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: Create worksheets for dressing lists, show notes, or costume checks (100% of the task's time now); Participate in the hiring, training, scheduling, or supervision of alteration workers (99% of the task's time now); and Study books, pictures, or examples of period clothing to determine styles worn during specific periods in history (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Costume Attendants stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Design or construct costumes or send them to tailors for construction, major repairs, or alterations; Provide dressing assistance to cast members or assign cast dressers to assist specific cast members with costume changes; and Clean and press costumes before and after performances and perform any minor repairs. Together such tasks are about 86% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Costume Attendants?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. 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 Costume Attendants?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 80% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 44% of the working time. Its index is 0.44 of 3. One example: sewts VELUM (FANUC M-10iD) in industrial laundry line for "clean and press costumes before and after performances and perform any minor repairs". 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 21 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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