AI exposure: Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance
Apply makeup to performers to reflect period, setting, and situation of their role.
Reading this score
computedAt 26.4% of weighted task load, Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance sits at the 49th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 60.2% 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 22 tasks it averages 1.82 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 Requisition or acquire needed materials for special effects, at 80.0%. The least is Wash and reset wigs, at 0.0%. A gap of 80.0% 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 personal care and service occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 31 roles in the group is 23.4%, and only 13 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 22 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 11 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 | 1.61 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.82 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.64 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.36 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.36 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.64 | 0-3 |
Task by task
22 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Requisition or acquire needed materials for special effects, including wigs, beards, and special cosmetics. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.67 | exposed |
| Write makeup sheets and take photos to document specific looks and the products used to achieve the looks. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Analyze a script, noting events that affect each character's appearance, so that plans can be made for each scene. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.84 | exposed |
| Study production information, such as character descriptions, period settings, and situations, to determine makeup requirements. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.63 | exposed |
| Establish budgets, and work within budgetary limits. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.58 | exposed |
| Examine sketches, photographs, and plaster models to obtain desired character image depiction. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Evaluate environmental characteristics, such as venue size and lighting plans, to determine makeup requirements. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Confer with stage or motion picture officials and performers to determine desired effects. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.72 | exposed |
| Advise hairdressers on the hairstyles required for character parts. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.21 | exposed |
| Design rubber or plastic prostheses that can be used to change performers' appearances. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.94 | exposed |
| Create character drawings or models, based upon independent research, to augment period production files. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.67 | exposed |
| Demonstrate products to clients, and provide instruction in makeup application. | 20.0% | 17.5% | 62.5% | 3.33 | untouched |
| Assess performers' skin type to ensure that makeup will not cause break-outs or skin irritations. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Clean supplies such as makeup brushes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 5.00 | untouched |
| Duplicate work precisely to replicate characters' appearances on a daily basis. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.89 | untouched |
| Apply makeup to enhance or alter the appearance of people appearing in productions such as movies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.86 | untouched |
| Alter or maintain makeup during productions as necessary to compensate for lighting changes or to achieve continuity of effect. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Select desired makeup shades from stock, or mix oil, grease, and coloring to achieve specific color effects. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Attach prostheses to performers and apply makeup to create special features or effects, such as scars, aging, or illness. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Cleanse and tone the skin to prepare it for makeup application. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Provide performers with makeup removal assistance after performances have been completed. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Wash and reset wigs. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.00 | 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.