Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
In short: today's best AI models could do about 7% 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 93% of the time, stays with people.
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
31,250 people do this job in the US. $41,590 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
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders, 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: Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results (about 1 h); Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications (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.
- 7%
- 0%
- 93%
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, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 7%. 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, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 17 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0022% to none (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0022% | 685 of 708 | 1 of 17 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 17 |
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 90% of this job's working time as physical work. For 90% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 63% in a purpose-built cell, 27% in a structured facility. 1.18 of 3, the 59th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 10%
- In a purpose-built cell 63%
- In a structured facility 27%
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 . 17 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, CFT VULCANO cooking kettle sauce/condiment lines (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 27% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Alfa Laval CIP station / Toftejorg SaniJet 25 rotary jet head (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate auxiliary machines and equipment, such as grinders, canners, and molding presses, to prepare or further process products.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Allpax Automated Batch Retort System (ABRS) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Nordson Series 9 online food gauge / closed-loop process control (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, LaborSave automatic debagging machine (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AZO COMPONENTER batching system (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Place products on conveyors or carts, and monitor product flow.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Quest Quik Pick with FANUC DR-3iB/6 delta robot (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Sentry ISOLOK MSA automatic point sampler (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Remove cooked material or products from equipment.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Velec Systems oven loading/unloading system (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Activate agitators and paddles to mix or stir ingredients, stopping machines when ingredients are thoroughly mixed.Done several times a day by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, Blentech AutoChef (with BlenTherm kettles and Blentech mixers) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Turn valves or start pumps to add ingredients or drain products from equipment and to transfer products for storage, cooling, or further processing.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Tapflo UK Hygienic Valve Manifold (matrix of pneumatic valves with C-TOP controls) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 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.
- Food Batchmakers15% now, 17% by 2028
- Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders8% now, 8% by 2028
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders5% now, 5% by 2028
- Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders6% now, 6% by 2028
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders5% now, 5% by 2028
- Bakers19% now, 20% 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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders 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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders 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: Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results (100% of the task's time now); Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications (100% of the task's time now); and Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing; Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses; and Operate auxiliary machines and equipment, such as grinders, canners, and molding presses, to prepare or further process products. Together such tasks are about 93% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders?
- 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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 90% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 90% of the working time, 27% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.18 of 3. One example: Nordson Series 9 online food gauge / closed-loop process control for "observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients". 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 17 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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