Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
In short: today's best AI models could do about 11% 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 89% of the time, stays with people.
Operate one or more of a variety of office machines, such as photocopying, photographic, and duplicating machines, or other office machines.
25,130 people do this job in the US. $40,960 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on4 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people36 h
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 4 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 36 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read job orders to determine the type of work to be done, the quantities to be produced, and the materials needed (about 2 h); Complete records of production, including work volumes and outputs, materials used, and any backlogs (about 1 h); Compute prices for services and receive payment, or provide supervisors with billing information (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.
- 11%
- 0%
- 89%
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, 5%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 11%. Today's estimate: 11%.
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 18 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.043% to 0.042% (released February and March 2025); 0.01% to 0.012% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.043% | 299 of 708 | 1 of 18 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.042% | 294 of 703 | 3 of 18 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.01% | 450 of 655 | 1 of 18 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0098% | 481 of 672 | 1 of 18 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.012% | 474 of 677 | 1 of 18 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
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 88% of this job's working time as physical work. For 88% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 74% in a purpose-built cell, 14% in a structured facility. 1.03 of 3, the 106th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 12%
- In a purpose-built cell 74%
- In a structured facility 14%
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 . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate office machines such as high speed business photocopiers, readers, scanners, addressing machines, stencil-cutting machines, microfilm readers or printers, folding and inserting machines, bursters, and binder machines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Twin Robot Board Handling System (Twin Robot BHS) (RobotFactory) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 19% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Sort, assemble, and proof completed work.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Canon imagePRESS V Inspection Unit / automation modules (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Monitor machine operation, and make adjustments as necessary to ensure proper operation.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RICOH Pro C9500 with Auto Color Diagnosis Unit (ACDU) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Set up and adjust machines, regulating factors such as speed, ink flow, focus, and number of copies.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, RICOH Pro C9500 (Auto Color Diagnosis, Image Quality Monitor) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and process papers for use in scanning, microfilming, and microfiche.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ripcord robotic digitization workcell (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate auxiliary machines such as collators, pad and tablet making machines, staplers, and paper punching, folding, cutting, and perforating machines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, POLAR CuttingSystem (high-speed cutter AT with Autotrans/Autoturn/Autotrim/Transomat) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Read job orders to determine the type of work to be done, the quantities to be produced, and the materials needed.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Load machines with materials such as blank paper or film.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Kongsberg Robotic Material Handler (Kongsberg Ultimate 66 production cell) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| File and store completed documents.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AutoStore Cube Storage Automation (Swisslog integration) at FBI Central Records Complex (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 17 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Deliver completed work.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Rookie (Naver Labs, ARC cloud platform) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Complete records of production, including work volumes and outputs, materials used, and any backlogs.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean machines, perform minor repairs, and report major repair needs.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Robotic dry ice cleaning cell (ICS) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 50 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.
- Prepress Technicians and Workers77% now, 77% by 2028
- Printing Press Operators18% now, 18% by 2028
- Data Entry Keyers80% now, 80% by 2028
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators14% now, 14% by 2028
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers7% now, 9% by 2028
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers18% now, 18% 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 Office Machine Operators, Except Computer is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 11% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 11% 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 Office Machine Operators, Except Computer 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: Read job orders to determine the type of work to be done, the quantities to be produced, and the materials needed (100% of the task's time now); Complete records of production, including work volumes and outputs, materials used, and any backlogs (100% of the task's time now); and Compute prices for services and receive payment, or provide supervisors with billing information (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Office Machine Operators, Except Computer stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Operate office machines such as high speed business photocopiers, readers, scanners, addressing machines, stencil-cutting machines, microfilm readers or printers, folding and inserting machines, bursters, and binder machines; Sort, assemble, and proof completed work; and Monitor machine operation, and make adjustments as necessary to ensure proper operation. Together such tasks are about 89% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Office Machine Operators, Except Computer?
- 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 2%. 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 Office Machine Operators, Except Computer?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 88% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 88% of the working time, 14% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.03 of 3. One example: RICOH Pro C9500 (Auto Color Diagnosis, Image Quality Monitor) for "set up and adjust machines, regulating factors such as speed, ink flow, focus, and number of copies". 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 18 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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