Tile and Stone Setters
In short: today's best AI models could do about 4% 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 96% of the time, stays with people.
Apply hard tile, stone, and comparable materials to walls, floors, ceilings, countertops, and roof decks.
35,850 people do this job in the US. $55,690 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Tile and Stone Setters, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Select and order tile and other items to be installed, such as bathroom accessories, walls, panels, and cabinets, according to specifications (under an hour); Prepare cost and labor estimates, based on calculations of time and materials needed for project (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.
- 4%
- 0%
- 96%
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, 3%. Today's estimate: 4%.
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 25 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.011% to 0.0085% (released February and March 2025); 0.0018% to 0.0046% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.011% | 521 of 708 | 2 of 25 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0085% | 530 of 703 | 1 of 25 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0018% | 643 of 655 | 1 of 25 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0035% | 604 of 672 | 2 of 25 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0046% | 578 of 677 | 2 of 25 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 25 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 25 |
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 92% of this job's working time as physical work. For 79% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 67% in a purpose-built cell, 12% in a structured facility. 0.91 of 3, the 174th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 8%
- No robot shown 13%
- In a purpose-built cell 67%
- In a structured facility 12%
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 . 25 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lay and set mosaic tiles to create decorative wall, mural, and floor designs.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Cut, surface, polish, and install marble and granite or install pre-cast terrazzo, granite or marble units.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare surfaces for tiling by attaching lath or waterproof paper, or by applying a cement mortar coat to a metal screen.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Mix, apply, and spread plaster, concrete, mortar, cement, mastic, glue or other adhesives to form a bed for the tiles, using brush, trowel and screed.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ZeroLabor robotic gluing cell (Randek AB) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine and implement the best layout to achieve a desired pattern.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, P900 Floor Tile Paving Robot (Partner Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Align and straighten tile using levels, squares, and straightedges.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Artaic mosaic robots (Arty, Artemis gantry) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Finish and dress the joints and wipe excess grout from between tiles, using damp sponge.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Fabrica AI tile grouting robot (V5/V6) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 33 min17 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Cut and shape tile to fit around obstacles and into odd spaces and corners, using hand and power cutting tools.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BACA Systems Autocut Line (robotic loading/unloading + Robo SawJet) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Spread mastic or other adhesive base on roof deck to form base for promenade tile, using serrated spreader.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Randek ZeroLabor Robotic Gluing (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min21 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Measure and mark surfaces to be tiled, following blueprints.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HP SitePrint (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Study blueprints and examine surface to be covered to determine amount of material needed.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Level concrete and allow to dry.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ebawe/Progress Group circulation plant concrete spreader with vibrating levelling beam (ebos-controlled) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 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.
- Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles3% now, 3% by 2028
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers3% now, 3% by 2028
- Stonemasons0% now, 0% by 2028
- Helpers--Brickmasons, Blockmasons, Stonemasons, and Tile and Marble Setters6% now, 6% by 2028
- Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing5% now, 5% by 2028
- Brickmasons and Blockmasons8% 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 Tile and Stone Setters is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 4% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 4% 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 Tile and Stone Setters 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: Select and order tile and other items to be installed, such as bathroom accessories, walls, panels, and cabinets, according to specifications (100% of the task's time now); Prepare cost and labor estimates, based on calculations of time and materials needed for project (100% of the task's time now); and Assist customers in selection of tile and grout (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Tile and Stone Setters stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Lay and set mosaic tiles to create decorative wall, mural, and floor designs; Cut, surface, polish, and install marble and granite or install pre-cast terrazzo, granite or marble units; and Prepare surfaces for tiling by attaching lath or waterproof paper, or by applying a cement mortar coat to a metal screen. Together such tasks are about 96% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Tile and Stone Setters?
- 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 Tile and Stone Setters?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 92% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 79% of the working time, 12% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.91 of 3. One example: PavePal P900 Floor Tile Paving Robot for "apply mortar to tile back, position the tile, and press or tap with trowel handle to affix tile to base". 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 25 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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