Materials Engineers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 21% 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 59% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 38% of the time, stays with people.
Evaluate materials and develop machinery and processes to manufacture materials for use in products that must meet specialized design and performance specifications. Develop new uses for known materials. Includes those engineers working with composite materials or specializing in one type of material, such as graphite, metal and metal alloys, ceramics and glass, plastics and polymers, and naturally occurring materials. Includes metallurgists and metallurgical engineers, ceramic engineers, and welding engineers.
22,770 people do this job in the US. $112,860 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on9 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet16 h
- Stays with people15 h
Materials Engineers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 9 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 16 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 15 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Determine appropriate methods for fabricating and joining materials (about 1 h); Review new product plans, and make recommendations for material selection, based on design objectives such as strength, weight, heat resistance, electrical conductivity, and cost (about 1 h); Solve problems in a number of engineering fields, such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, civil, nuclear, and aerospace (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.
- 62%
- 14%
- 24%
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, 1%. Today's estimate: 21%.
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 387th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 21 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0042% to none (released February and March 2025); 0.0033% to 0.00081% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.023% to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0042% | 629 of 708 | 2 of 21 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 21 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0033% | 577 of 655 | 2 of 21 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0013% | 667 of 672 | 1 of 21 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.00081% | 674 of 677 | 1 of 21 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.023% | 313 of 434 | 1 of 21 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 387 of 447 | 1 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 almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solve problems in a number of engineering fields, such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, civil, nuclear, and aerospace.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 1.3 work days1.7 h to 1 work week | 24%Half by Jul 2027 | |
| Plan and implement laboratory operations to develop material and fabrication procedures that meet cost, product specification, and performance standards.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 13% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Analyze product failure data and laboratory test results to determine causes of problems and develop solutions.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 15%Half by Oct 2027 | |
| Supervise the work of technologists, technicians, and other engineers and scientists.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Determine appropriate methods for fabricating and joining materials.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Plan and evaluate new projects, consulting with other engineers and corporate executives, as necessary.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.3 work weeks | 24%Half by May 2027 | |
| Design and direct the testing or control of processing procedures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Review new product plans, and make recommendations for material selection, based on design objectives such as strength, weight, heat resistance, electrical conductivity, and cost.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 61%Half by now | |
| Perform managerial functions, such as preparing proposals and budgets, analyzing labor costs, and writing reports.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 work days2.5 h to 4.2 work days | 36%Half by Feb 2027 | |
| Replicate the characteristics of materials and their components, using computers.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 20%Half by Aug 2027 | |
| Supervise production and testing processes in industrial settings, such as metal refining facilities, smelting or foundry operations, or nonmetallic materials production operations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Conduct training sessions on new material products, applications, or manufacturing methods for customers and their employees.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%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 Materials Engineers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 21% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 59% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (47% to 61% 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 Materials Engineers 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: Determine appropriate methods for fabricating and joining materials (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Review new product plans, and make recommendations for material selection, based on design objectives such as strength, weight, heat resistance, electrical conductivity, and cost (61% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Solve problems in a number of engineering fields, such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, civil, nuclear, and aerospace (24% of the task's time now, 95% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Materials Engineers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Plan and implement laboratory operations to develop material and fabrication procedures that meet cost, product specification, and performance standards; Supervise the work of technologists, technicians, and other engineers and scientists; and Design and direct the testing or control of processing procedures. Together such tasks are about 38% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Materials Engineers?
- 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 387th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 21 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 Materials Engineers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- 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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