AI exposure: Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.
Reading this score
computedAt 34.6% of weighted task load, Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators sits at the 60th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 50.8% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 28 tasks it averages 1.71 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 Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors, at 86.7%. The least is Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational..., at 0.0%. A gap of 86.7% 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 arts, design, entertainment, sports and media occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 38.5% across the group's 40 roles, with 23 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 28 tasks, 14 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 13 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 | 1.77 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.71 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.85 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.43 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.46 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.82 | 0-3 |
Task by task
28 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.50 | exposed |
| Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 3.13 | exposed |
| Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.61 | exposed |
| Submit artwork to shows or galleries. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 3.81 | exposed |
| Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.51 | exposed |
| Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Develop project budgets for approval, estimating time lines and material costs. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.86 | exposed |
| Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.92 | exposed |
| Shade and fill in sketch outlines and backgrounds, using a variety of media such as water colors, markers, and transparent washes, labeling designated colors when necessary. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.86 | exposed |
| Create and prepare sketches and model drawings of cartoon characters, providing details from memory, live models, manufactured products, or reference materials. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Create sketches, profiles, or likenesses of posed subjects or photographs, using any combination of freehand drawing, mechanical assembly kits, and computer imaging. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.41 | exposed |
| Trace drawings onto clear acetate for painting or coloring, or trace them with ink to make final copies. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.34 | exposed |
| Submit preliminary or finished artwork or project plans to clients for approval, incorporating changes as necessary. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.80 | exposed |
| Collaborate with engineers, mechanics, and other technical experts as necessary to build and install creations. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.73 | assisted |
| Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Photograph objects, places, or scenes for reference material. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.07 | untouched |
| Create sculptures, statues, and other three-dimensional artwork by using abrasives and tools to shape, carve, and fabricate materials such as clay, stone, wood, or metal. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Cut, bend, laminate, arrange, and fasten individual or mixed raw and manufactured materials and products to form works of art. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.62 | untouched |
| Create finished art work as decoration, or to elucidate or substitute for spoken or written messages. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.43 | untouched |
| Provide entertainment at special events by performing activities such as drawing cartoons. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Collaborate with writers who create ideas, stories, or captions that are combined with artists' work. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.22 | untouched |
| Teach artistic techniques to children or adults. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 2.99 | untouched |
| Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish. | 6.1% | 2.2% | 91.7% | 3.27 | untouched |
| Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork. | 5.7% | 2.6% | 91.7% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.99 | untouched |
| Frame and mat artwork for display or sale. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.86 | untouched |
| Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational legends, exhibit accessories, or finished paintings. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.19 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 1 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
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.