Web Developers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 64% 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 96% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 3% of the time, stays with people.
Develop and implement websites, web applications, application databases, and interactive web interfaces. Evaluate code to ensure that it is properly structured, meets industry standards, and is compatible with browsers and devices. Optimize website performance, scalability, and server-side code and processes. May develop website infrastructure and integrate websites with other computer applications.
70,190 people do this job in the US. $92,650 a year.
Reviewed on October 2, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work23 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet13 h
- Stays with people1 h
Web Developers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 23 hours become checking its work, 13 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 1 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Write supporting code (about 5 h, a person checks); Build and maintain websites (about 3 h, a person checks); Choose languages and tools (about 3 h, a person checks).
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.
- 79%
- 18%
- 2%
- 1%
- 0%
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.
What handing it over would take, now
The 64% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 14%. Today's estimate: 64%.
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, 0.65% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 39th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 10 of its 29 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 1.2% to 2.1% (released February and March 2025); 1.6% to 1.4% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.69% to 0.65% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 1.2% | 14 of 708 | 19 of 29 |
| Released March 2025 | 2.1% | 6 of 703 | 21 of 29 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 1.6% | 10 of 655 | 16 of 29 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 1.7% | 10 of 672 | 16 of 29 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 1.4% | 12 of 677 | 17 of 29 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.69% | 38 of 434 | 10 of 29 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.65% | 39 of 447 | 10 of 29 |
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.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
3% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Confer on priorities and solutions, the conversation, 1%
- Shape e-commerce strategy together, the conversation, 1%
- Keep up with web technology, the in-person work, 0.8%
What becomes checking the machine
89% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it. Another 7% is desk work that is small if wrong, which can be handed over with lighter checks.
- Write supporting code, costly if wrong, 19%
- Build and maintain websites, costly if wrong, 19%
- Build the site's databases, costly if wrong, 10%
- Choose languages and tools, costly if wrong, 9%
- Test the website, costly if wrong, 7%
- Build web models and prototypes, costly if wrong, 4%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 79% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- Running AI inside the business systems. About 18% of the time is work inside business systems, which a model can do only once it is connected: knowing the systems well enough to set that up and watch it.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 29 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write supporting code for Web applications or Web sites.Writing code.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 19% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | Documents 100% | 71%Half by now |
| Design, build, or maintain Web sites, using authoring or scripting languages, content creation tools, management tools, and digital media.Writing the pages and code, with the content tools alongside.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 19% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 40%Half by Jan 2027 |
| Develop databases that support Web applications and Web sites.Designing the tables and writing the code, then creating them on the server.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 80%, systems 20% | 31%Half by Mar 2027 |
| Select programming languages, design tools, or applications.Weighing the options and choosing the tools for the job.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 9% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Documents 100% | 80%Half by now |
| Perform Web site tests according to planned schedules, or after any Web site or product revision.Running the test scripts and clicking through the site, with the results written up.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 91%Half by now |
| Create Web models or prototypes that include physical, interface, logical, or data models.Drawing and coding the models and prototypes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 100% | 55%Half by now |
| Evaluate code to ensure that it is valid, is properly structured, meets industry standards, and is compatible with browsers, devices, or operating systems.Reading and testing the code for validity, structure and compatibility.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Documents 100% | 88%Half by now |
| Recommend and implement performance improvements.Finding what is slow, proposing fixes and making them in the code and the server settings.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Documents 70%, systems 30% | 80%Half by now |
| Design and implement Web site security measures, such as firewalls and message encryption.Planning the protections, then configuring firewalls and encryption on the servers. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | Documents 50%, systems 50% | 44%Half by Dec 2026 |
| Perform or direct Web site updates.Making the changes in the content system, or handing them to someone and checking.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Systems 60%, documents 40% | 88%Half by now |
| Incorporate technical considerations into Web site design plans, such as budgets, equipment, performance requirements, and legal issues including accessibility and privacy.Working budgets, equipment, performance and legal needs into the site plan. | 2% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 100% | 69%Half by now |
| Document technical factors such as server load, bandwidth, database performance, and browser and device types.Pulling the load, bandwidth and device figures from the systems and writing them up.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 2% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Documents 70%, systems 30% | 96%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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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 Web Developers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 64% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 97% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (92% to 97% 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 Web Developers 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: Write supporting code (71% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Build and maintain websites (40% of the task's time now, 99% by the end of 2028); and Choose languages and tools (80% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Web Developers stay with people?
- Every task has a desk part, so each can come partly within reach; the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of each task stay with people, about 3% of the working time.
- What should Web Developers learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and running AI inside the business systems. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 3% of the working time stays with people, 89% becomes checking a model's work and 7% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Web Developers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.65% went to this job's tasks, the 39th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 10 of its 29 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 48%. 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 Web Developers?
- 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 29 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 2, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), 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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The page above is the occupation. Your job is your title and what you actually do: give both, and they are read against these tasks in your browser, nothing sent anywhere. The headline is free: how much of your working time is within reach now and by the end of 2028, and how many of the tasks your description names.
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