Will AI replace Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
6/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 12% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 12% of the work
What the job involves
Set up, operate, or tend grinding and related tools that remove excess material or burrs from surfaces, sharpen edges or corners, or buff, hone, or polish metal or plastic work pieces.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(2)
- Select machine tooling to be used, using knowledge of machine and production requirements.
- Repair or replace machine parts, using hand tools, or notify engineering personnel when corrective action is required.
Out of reach(16)
- Inspect or measure finished workpieces to determine conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments, such as gauges or micrometers.
- Set up, operate, or tend grinding and related tools that remove excess material or burrs from surfaces, sharpen edges or corners, or buff, hone, or polish metal or plastic workpieces.
- Set and adjust machine controls according to product specifications, using knowledge of machine operation.
- Observe machine operations to detect any problems, making necessary adjustments to correct problems.
- Activate machine start-up switches to grind, lap, hone, debar, shear, or cut workpieces, according to specifications.
and 11 more
Also called
Deburrer · Grinder Operator · Metal Finisher · Centerless Grinder Operator · Grinder · Grinding Machine Operator · Bench Grinder · Gear Grinder
Related jobs
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners0/100
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic7/100
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand6/100
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing3/100
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders8/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics