Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
In short: today's best AI models could do about 8% 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 92% of the time, stays with people.
Set up, operate, or tend wood sawing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment. Includes lead sawyers.
40,850 people do this job in the US. $42,770 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
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood, 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: Examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, or patterns to determine equipment set-up or selection details, procedures to be used, or dimensions of final products (about 2 h); Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions (about 2 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.
- 8%
- 0%
- 92%
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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 8%.
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 22 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0048% to none (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0048% | 610 of 708 | 1 of 22 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
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 96% of this job's working time as physical work. For 94% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 94% in a purpose-built cell. 0.94 of 3, the 154th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 4%
- No robot shown 2%
- In a purpose-built cell 94%
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 . 22 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BID Group Primary Breakdown Closed Loop (with Comact scanners) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 25 min8 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine logs or lumber to plan the best cuts.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Comact C1-Scan Primary Breakdown Optimizer (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Monitor sawing machines, adjusting speed and tension and clearing jams to ensure proper operation.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Saw-ADD anti-deviation system (Saw+ADD / USNR) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust saw blades, using wrenches and rulers, or by turning handwheels or pressing pedals, levers, or panel buttons.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Wood-Mizer EA3000 Optimizing Edger (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Cut grooves, bevels, or miters, saw curved or irregular designs, and sever or shape metals, according to specifications or work orders.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HOMAG CENTATEQ N-800 nesting cell with STORETEQ P-500 storage (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Trim lumber to straighten rough edges or remove defects, using circular saws.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, USNR Saw Boss edger / trimmer with BioLuma 2900 LV and BioVision deep-learning grading (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Microtec Goldeneye 300 Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner with GradeView (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 7 min3 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust bolts, clamps, stops, guides, or table angles or heights, using hand tools.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Altendorf F 45 sliding table saw (CNC rip fence, motorised rise/fall and tilt) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, or patterns to determine equipment set-up or selection details, procedures to be used, or dimensions of final products.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Guide workpieces against saws, saw over workpieces by hand, or operate automatic feeding devices to guide cuts.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Metsä Fibre Rauma sawmill saw line (ABB control room, power distribution and robotics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 10 min3 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Mount and bolt sawing blades or attachments to machine shafts.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, DISCO Auto Blade Changer (ABC) on DFD6342/DFD6561/DFD6755 dicing saws (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 21 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.
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing9% now, 9% by 2028
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand11% now, 11% by 2028
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand5% now, 5% by 2028
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic10% now, 10% by 2028
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6% now, 6% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Sawmills and Wood Preservation15,430 people
- Other Wood Product Manufacturing9,820 people
- Veneer, Plywood, and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing4,900 people
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (4232, 4233, 4235, 4236, 4237, and 4239 only)3,080 people
- Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing (3371 and 3372 only)3,030 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 Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 8% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 8% 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 Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood 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: Examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, or patterns to determine equipment set-up or selection details, procedures to be used, or dimensions of final products (100% of the task's time now); and Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines; Examine logs or lumber to plan the best cuts; and Monitor sawing machines, adjusting speed and tension and clearing jams to ensure proper operation. Together such tasks are about 92% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood?
- 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 Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 96% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 94% of the working time. Its index is 0.94 of 3. One example: BID Group Primary Breakdown Closed Loop (with Comact scanners) for "set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines". 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 22 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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