Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 25% 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 75% of the time, stays with people.
Design, fabricate, adjust, repair, or appraise jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.
22,440 people do this job in the US. $52,540 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on10 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people30 h
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 10 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 30 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary (about 5 h); Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs (about 2 h); Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity (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.
- 25%
- 3%
- 71%
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, 10%. Today's estimate: 25%.
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 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.024% to 0.043% (released February and March 2025); 0.0056% to 0.011% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.024% | 422 of 708 | 3 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.043% | 292 of 703 | 4 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0056% | 522 of 655 | 2 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0087% | 498 of 672 | 3 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.011% | 477 of 677 | 3 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 30 |
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 82% of this job's working time as physical work. For 32% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 32% in a purpose-built cell. 0.32 of 3, the 376th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 18%
- No robot shown 50%
- In a purpose-built cell 32%
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 . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, PRECIOUS M 080 direct precious metal 3D printing system (Cooksongold with EOS) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 1 work day3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 14% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work day | 97%Half by now | |
| Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 29 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Tanury Industries automated electroplating systems (Fully Automated Specification Electroplating System; Computerized 4-bar Hoist Plating System; Full-Service Hoist Barrel Line) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MPI automatic wax injection machines; Impro robotic wax pattern assembly line (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 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.
- Gem and Diamond Workers11% now, 11% by 2028
- Etchers and Engravers21% now, 21% by 2028
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand11% now, 11% by 2028
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Craft Artists23% now, 24% by 2028
- Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing5% now, 5% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Jewelry, Luggage, and Leather Goods Retailers11,740 people
- Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing5,080 people
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (4232, 4233, 4235, 4236, 4237, and 4239 only)2,100 people
- Personal and Household Goods Repair and Maintenance1,210 people
- Management of Companies and Enterprises380 people
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 Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 25% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 25% 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 Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers 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 new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary (97% of the task's time now); Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs (99% of the task's time now); and Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones; Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools; and Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings. Together such tasks are about 75% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers?
- 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 Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 82% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 32% of the working time. Its index is 0.32 of 3. One example: PRECIOUS M 080 direct precious metal 3D printing system for "create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones". 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 30 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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