Will AI replace Waiters and Waitresses?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
21/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 36% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 23% of the work
What the job involves
Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(6)
- Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.
- Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
- Inform customers of daily specials.
- Explain how various menu items are prepared, describing ingredients and cooking methods.
- Provide guests with information about local areas, including directions.
and 1 more
Out of reach(19)
- Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
- Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
- Collect payments from customers.
- Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning.
- Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.
and 14 more
Also called
Cocktail Server · Restaurant Server · Banquet Server · Food Server · Waiter · Waitress · Bar Waiter · Bar Waitress
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