AI exposure: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
Set up, operate, or tend wood sawing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment. Includes lead sawyers.
Reading this score
computedAt 11.0% of weighted task load, Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood sits at the 16th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 82.9% 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 2.70 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 Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to..., at 50.0%. The least is Dispose of waste material after completing work assignments, at 0.0%. A gap of 50.0% 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 production occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 16.2% across the group's 107 roles, with 74 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 22 tasks, 4 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 18 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 | 0.64 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.70 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.25 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.30 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.95 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.70 | 0-3 |
Task by task
22 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.03 | exposed |
| Examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, or patterns to determine equipment set-up or selection details, procedures to be used, or dimensions of final products. | 37.6% | 20.7% | 41.7% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Adjust saw blades, using wrenches and rulers, or by turning handwheels or pressing pedals, levers, or panel buttons. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.54 | exposed |
| Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Monitor sawing machines, adjusting speed and tension and clearing jams to ensure proper operation. | 15.8% | 9.2% | 75.0% | 4.33 | untouched |
| Operate panelboards of saw or conveyor systems to move stock through processes or to cut stock to specified dimensions. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.06 | untouched |
| Inspect stock for imperfections or to estimate grades or qualities of stock or workpieces. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Examine logs or lumber to plan the best cuts. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.43 | untouched |
| Guide workpieces against saws, saw over workpieces by hand, or operate automatic feeding devices to guide cuts. | 8.8% | 3.8% | 87.5% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Count, sort, or stack finished workpieces. | 6.3% | 2.0% | 91.7% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.63 | untouched |
| Mount and bolt sawing blades or attachments to machine shafts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.53 | untouched |
| Sharpen blades, or replace defective or worn blades or bands, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Clear machine jams, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
| Lubricate or clean machines, using wrenches, grease guns, or solvents. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.81 | untouched |
| Adjust bolts, clamps, stops, guides, or table angles or heights, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Trim lumber to straighten rough edges or remove defects, using circular saws. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Position and clamp stock on tables, conveyors, or carriages, using hoists, guides, stops, dogs, wedges, or wrenches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Measure and mark stock for cuts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.07 | untouched |
| Cut grooves, bevels, or miters, saw curved or irregular designs, and sever or shape metals, according to specifications or work orders. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Unclamp and remove finished workpieces from tables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.90 | untouched |
| Dispose of waste material after completing work assignments. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.54 | 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.