AI exposure: Plasterers and Stucco Masons
Apply interior or exterior plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials. May also set ornamental plaster.
Reading this score
computedPlasterers and Stucco Masons is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 0.0% of weighted task load, rank 921 of 923. 100.0% 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 15 tasks it averages 2.83 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 Determine materials needed to complete the job and place orders accordingly, at 52.5%. The least is Mold or install ornamental plaster pieces, panels, or trim, at 0.0%. A gap of 52.5% 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 58 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 15 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 14 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 | 0.20 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.83 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.33 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.37 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.00 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.90 | 0-3 |
Task by task
15 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Determine materials needed to complete the job and place orders accordingly. | 52.5% | 22.5% | 25.0% | 4.17 | exposed |
| Cover surfaces such as windows, doors, or sidewalks to protect from splashing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.46 | untouched |
| Apply coats of plaster or stucco to walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using trowels, brushes, or spray guns. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Clean and prepare surfaces for applications of plaster, cement, stucco, or similar materials, such as by drywall taping. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Create decorative textures in finish coat, using brushes or trowels, sand, pebbles, or stones. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Mix mortar and plaster to desired consistency or direct workers who perform mixing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Clean job sites. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Rough the undercoat surface with a scratcher so the finish coat will adhere. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Set up scaffolds. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.36 | untouched |
| Cure freshly plastered surfaces. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.33 | untouched |
| Apply weatherproof, decorative coverings to exterior surfaces of buildings, such as by troweling or spraying on coats of stucco. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Apply insulation to building exteriors by installing prefabricated insulation systems over existing walls or by covering the outer wall with insulation board, reinforcing mesh, and a base coat. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Spray acoustic materials or texture finish over walls or ceilings. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Install guide wires on exterior surfaces of buildings to indicate thickness of plaster or stucco and nail wire mesh, lath, or similar materials to the outside surface to hold stucco in place. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.81 | untouched |
| Mold or install ornamental plaster pieces, panels, or trim. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.75 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 10 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.