Will AI replace Printing Press Operators?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
12/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 23% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 24% of the work
What the job involves
Set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, or other printing machines. Includes short-run offset printing presses.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(7)
- Examine job orders to determine quantities to be printed, stock specifications, colors, or special printing instructions.
- Maintain time or production records.
- Input production job settings into workstation terminals that control automated printing systems.
- Download completed jobs to archive media so that questions can be answered or jobs replicated.
- Download or scan files to be printed, using printing production software.
and 2 more
Out of reach(16)
- Verify that paper and ink meet the specifications for a given job.
- Collect and inspect random samples during print runs to identify any necessary adjustments.
- Start presses and pull proofs to check for ink coverage and density, alignment, and registration.
- Load presses with paper and make necessary adjustments, according to paper size.
- Change press plates, blankets, or cylinders, as required.
and 11 more
Also called
Web Press Operator · Digital Press Operator · Flexographic Press Operator · Offset Press Operator · Press Operator · Printing Press Operator · Press Feeder · Screen Printer
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