Will AI replace Painters, Construction and Maintenance?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
2/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 7% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 5% of the work
What the job involves
Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(1)
- Calculate amounts of required materials and estimate costs, based on surface measurements or work orders.
Out of reach(16)
- Cover surfaces with dropcloths or masking tape and paper to protect surfaces during painting.
- Fill cracks, holes, or joints with caulk, putty, plaster, or other fillers, using caulking guns or putty knives.
- Read work orders or receive instructions from supervisors or homeowners to determine work requirements.
- Smooth surfaces, using sandpaper, scrapers, brushes, steel wool, or sanding machines.
- Erect scaffolding or swing gates, or set up ladders, to work above ground level.
and 11 more
Also called
Painter · House Painter · Industrial Painter · Maintenance Painter · Interior Painter · Stage Setting Painter · Commercial Painter · Facilities Painter
Related jobs
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