Will AI replace Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
2/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 5% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 3% of the work
What the job involves
Fabricate, position, align, and fit parts of structural metal products.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(1)
- Design and construct templates and fixtures, using hand tools.
Out of reach(22)
- Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
- Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
- Move parts into position, manually or with hoists or cranes.
- Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
- Lay out and examine metal stock or workpieces to be processed to ensure that specifications are met.
and 17 more
Also called
Fitter · Fabricator · Metal Fabricator · Mill Beam Fitter · Ship Fitter · Steel Fabricator · Machine Cage Maker · Metal Box Maker
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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