Pourers and Casters, Metal
In short: today's best AI models could do about 0% 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 100% of the time, stays with people.
Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.
4,560 people do this job in the US. $51,810 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people40 h
Pourers and Casters, Metal, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 40 hours stay with people.
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.
- 0%
- 0%
- 100%
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, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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
None of this job's 16 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
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 100% of this job's working time as physical work. For 95% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 59% in a purpose-built cell, 36% in a structured facility. 1.31 of 3, the 40th highest of the 923 jobs.
- No robot shown 5%
- In a purpose-built cell 59%
- In a structured facility 36%
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 . 16 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, pourTECH automatic pouring system (unheated bottom-pouring ladle / pouring furnace) (pour-tech AB) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.Done more than weekly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Inductotherm ARMS (Automated Robotic Melt Shop) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, RIA AI furnace skimming machine (with In-Furnace Dross Processing) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Melt-Manager Plus / Meltminder 300 melt shop control systems (Inductotherm Corp.) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, KUKA foundry robot in automated die-casting cell (Heinen) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, DISA Automatic Core Setting unit (CSE) on DISAMATIC D3 moulding machines (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, pourTECH / EASYpour / FORCEpour automatic pouring system (pour-tech AB) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, CORE-VISION (Laempe Mössner Sinto / inspectomation) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, LiquiRob casting platform robot (Primetals Technologies) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Danieli Q-Robot (Q-Robot MELT SAMPLE) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Visipour P3 / closed-loop stopper-rod automatic pouring (Inductotherm) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 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.
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic14% now, 14% by 2028
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6% now, 6% by 2028
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand11% now, 11% by 2028
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic5% now, 5% by 2028
- Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders8% now, 8% 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 Pourers and Casters, Metal is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 0% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 0% 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 Pourers and Casters, Metal come within reach first?
- No task has a meaningful share of its time within reach now or by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five: the work is mostly people work and body work, which the site does not count.
- Which tasks of Pourers and Casters, Metal stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms; Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars; and Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles. Together such tasks are about 100% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Pourers and Casters, Metal?
- 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 Pourers and Casters, Metal?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 100% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 95% of the working time, 36% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.31 of 3. One example: Inductotherm ARMS (Automated Robotic Melt Shop) for "load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles". 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 16 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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