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Craft and related trades workers · code 7222

Toolmakers and related workers

AI can work out the tolerances. Fitting a die by hand to a hundredth of a millimetre is still skilled work.

Preparing templates and reading engineering drawings are mostly out of AI's reach. It barely touches seven of the eleven tasks, including laying out metal stock and repairing firearms.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Toolmakers and related workers make and repair custom-made and specialized tools, sports guns, locks, dies, patterns, machinery components and other metal articles using hand and machine tools to work metal to fine tolerances. Tasks include - (a) reading and interpreting engineering drawings and specifications of tools, dies, prototypes or models; (b) preparing templates and sketches, and determining work processes; (c) visualizing and computing dimensions, sizes, shapes and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications; (d) positioning, securing and measuring metal stock or castings to lay out for machining; (e) setting up, operating and maintaining conventional and computer numerically controlled machine tools to cut, turn, mill, plane, drill, bore, grind or otherwise shape work pieces to prescribed dimensions and finish; (f) fitting and assembling parts to make and repair jigs, fixtures and gauges; (g) repairing and modifying sports guns and other small arms; (h) making, fitting, assembling, repairing and installing lock parts and locks; (i) making and repairing metal patterns for preparation of foundry moulds; (j) laying out lines and reference points on metal stock to guide other workers who cut, turn, mill, grind or otherwise shape metal; (k) verifying dimensions, alignments and clearances of finished parts for conformity with specifications, using precision measuring instruments and testing completed items for proper operation. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Die maker - Gunsmith - Jig maker - Locksmith - Patternmaker - Toolmaker Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Tool production machine operator - 7223

  • casting mould maker
  • tool and die maker
  • gunsmith
  • precision mechanic
  • locksmith

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

80 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

147 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 11 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 20.5 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 20.5 = 79.5.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 65 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Toolmakers and related workers 80

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Templates and process planning in CAD.
  • Computing dimensions and tolerances.
  • Automated measurement.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Fitting and assembling precision parts.
  • Setting up and running machines.
  • Locks, repairs and one-off jobs.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • 3D printing tools and prototypes.
  • Smart and electronic locks.
  • Multi-axis CNC programming.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

25 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 64 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

65 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 41 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

65 How
hands-on
41 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 6 US jobs .

finger skill 47 · hand skill 44.1 · cramped spaces 32.5 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 42, against an average of 21. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 42

    Preparing templates and sketches, and determining work processes

    Low
  2. 35

    Reading and interpreting engineering drawings and specifications of tools, dies, prototypes or models

    Low
  3. 27

    Visualizing and computing dimensions, sizes, shapes and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications

    Low
  4. 26

    Verifying dimensions, alignments and clearances of finished parts for conformity with specifications, using precision measuring instruments and testing completed items for proper operation.

    Low
  5. 15

    Setting up, operating and maintaining conventional and computer numerically controlled machine tools to cut, turn, mill, plane, drill, bore, grind or otherwise shape work pieces to prescribed dimensions and finish

    Very Low
  6. 15

    Making, fitting, assembling, repairing and installing lock parts and locks

    Very Low
  7. 15

    Making and repairing metal patterns for preparation of foundry moulds

    Very Low
  8. 14

    Fitting and assembling parts to make and repair jigs, fixtures and gauges

    Very Low
  9. 14

    Positioning, securing and measuring metal stock or castings to lay out for machining

    Very Low
  10. 12

    Laying out lines and reference points on metal stock to guide other workers who cut, turn, mill, grind or otherwise shape metal

    Very Low
  11. 11

    Repairing and modifying sports guns and other small arms

    Very Low

11 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
64
AI does it for you
25

Sidekick wins, by 39 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3233, 3234

Meanwhile, in real life…

Everything else here is about what AI could do. This is what people actually did. When they asked Claude for help with this kind of work, did they hand the whole task over, or roll their sleeves up and work through it together?

Tiny sample alert This job makes up 0.01% of all the conversations: a tiny slice, mostly the paperwork rather than the work. People using AI for a job isn't the same as AI being able to do it.

Out of every 100 conversations

55
45

worked through it together handed it over

The small print

Anthropic publishes this about its own product, and it doesn't feed into any score here. These are people who use Claude, not workers in general, so little use here doesn't mean AI can't reach the job.

The data is sorted by US job, and this one matches 2 of them. We've combined them, counting each by how often it comes up in the conversations, so the busiest one counts most.

These two add up to 100. The bars elsewhere on the page don't, because each is scored on its own, so we don't put them side by side.

observed use Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use 2026-05-01 · Anthropic, about its own product

So, should toolmakers and locksmiths be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of the planning are changing. Preparing templates, reading drawings, computing dimensions and checking parts are the most exposed tasks, all Low; machining, fitting and repairing rate Very Low. CAD and CNC keep improving, which shifts the craft towards setup, fitting and problem-solving.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” family, averaging 84. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →