AI exposure: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
Apply plasterboard or other wallboard to ceilings or interior walls of buildings. Apply or mount acoustical tiles or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings and walls of buildings to reduce or reflect sound. Materials may be of decorative quality. Includes lathers who fasten wooden, metal, or rockboard lath to walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings to provide support base for plaster, fireproofing, or acoustical material.
Reading this score
computedDrywall and Ceiling Tile Installers is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 2.2% of weighted task load, rank 902 of 923. 95.4% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 2.88 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures,..., at 30.0%. The least is Mount tile, at 0.0%. A gap of 30.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within construction and extraction occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 5.1% across the group's 61 roles, with 45 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 24 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 23 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.17 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.88 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.15 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.54 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.98 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.15 | 0-3 |
Task by task
24 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read blueprints or other specifications to determine methods of installation, work procedures, or material or tool requirements. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.41 | exposed |
| Inspect furrings, mechanical mountings, or masonry surfaces for plumbness and level, using spirit or water levels. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 2.97 | untouched |
| Coordinate work with drywall finishers who cover the seams between drywall panels. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.97 | untouched |
| Measure and mark surfaces to lay out work, according to blueprints or drawings, using tape measures, straightedges or squares, and marking devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Cut and screw together metal channels to make floor or ceiling frames, according to plans for the location of rooms or hallways. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Hang drywall panels on metal frameworks of walls and ceilings in offices, schools, or other large buildings, using lifts or hoists to adjust panel heights, when necessary. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Fit and fasten wallboard or drywall into position on wood or metal frameworks, using glue, nails, or screws. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.18 | untouched |
| Measure and cut openings in panels or tiles for electrical outlets, windows, vents, plumbing, or other fixtures, using keyhole saws or other cutting tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Cut metal or wood framing and trim to size, using cutting tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Cut fixture or border tiles to size, using keyhole saws, and insert them into surrounding frameworks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Trim rough edges from wallboard to maintain even joints, using knives. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Install horizontal and vertical metal or wooden studs to frames so that wallboard can be attached to interior walls. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Fasten metal or rockboard lath to the structural framework of walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using nails, screws, staples, or wire-ties. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.86 | untouched |
| Install blanket insulation between studs and tack plastic moisture barriers over insulation. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.76 | untouched |
| Assemble or install metal framing or decorative trim for windows, doorways, or vents. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.61 | untouched |
| Scribe and cut edges of tile to fit walls where wall molding is not specified. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.58 | untouched |
| Hang dry lines to wall moldings to guide positioning of main runners. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.38 | untouched |
| Apply or mount acoustical tile or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings or walls of buildings to reduce reflection of sound or to decorate rooms. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.32 | untouched |
| Remove existing plaster, drywall, or paneling, using crowbars and hammers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.31 | untouched |
| Suspend angle iron grids or channel irons from ceilings, using wire. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.31 | untouched |
| Seal joints between ceiling tiles and walls. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.21 | untouched |
| Install metal lath where plaster applications will be exposed to weather or water, or for curved or irregular surfaces. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.88 | untouched |
| Nail channels or wood furring strips to surfaces to provide mounting for tile. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.76 | untouched |
| Mount tile, using adhesives, or by nailing, screwing, stapling, or wire-tying lath directly to structural frameworks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.64 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.