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Craft and related trades workers · code 7321

Pre-press technicians

Software already builds the layouts. This job has been changing for years.

Laying out images and text on screen and checking proofs are where AI could take a fair chunk. Making printing plates and preparing cylinders it barely touches.

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

Pre-press technicians proof, format, set and compose text and graphics into a form suitable for use in various printing processes and representation in other visual media. Tasks include - (a) operating graphic cameras and other photographic equipment to reproduce camera-ready copy onto films, plates and digital output devices; (b) using computer applications to generate images, text, layouts and impositions for print and other visual media displays; (c) operating plate-making equipment to reproduce images from film to printing plates, digital output devices and presses; (d) operating computer screen-based equipment for scanning, colour separation, colour correction, masking, creative design, combining, imposing, retouching, and other processes used to transfer copy to film and produce film for plate, digital output and cylinder productions; (e) carrying out digital and chemical proofing from digital systems, and negative and positive films; (f) evaluating printed proofs, checking and correcting them for quality; (g) preparing and exposing carbon tissue for laying on cylinders by transfer method, and developing images. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Compositor - Desktop publishing operator - Electronic pre-press technician - Photogravurist - Photolithographer - Plate mounter (screen printing) - Plate maker (printing) - Screen maker - Typesetter

  • prepress technician

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

62 / 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: Exposed: Gradient 1

314 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 7 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 38.2 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 38.2 = 61.8.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Exposed: Gradient 1”: The mildest of the ILO’s four “exposed” groups.

This job rates 30.5 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

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

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Pre-press technicians 62

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.

  • Layouts and impositions.
  • Proof checking.
  • Scanning and colour correction.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Judging print quality.
  • Specialist and complex print jobs.
  • Plate making.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Automated prepress workflows.
  • Packaging print.
  • Print-on-demand.

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

31 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 73 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Lower

31 how hands-on

Not much of this job needs hands, so the robot can sit this one out.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 27 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

31 How
hands-on
27 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

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 2 US jobs .

finger skill 38.3 · hand skill 37.5 · cramped spaces 4.6 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

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 69, against an average of 38. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 69

    Using computer applications to generate images, text, layouts and impositions for print and other visual media displays

    Medium
  2. 66

    Evaluating printed proofs, checking and correcting them for quality

    Medium
  3. 42

    Operating computer screen-based equipment for scanning, colour separation, colour correction, masking, creative design, combining, imposing, retouching, and other processes used to transfer copy to film and produce film for plate, digital output and cylinder productions

    Low
  4. 28

    Operating graphic cameras and other photographic equipment to reproduce camera-ready copy onto films, plates and digital output devices

    Low
  5. 24

    Carrying out digital and chemical proofing from digital systems, and negative and positive films

    Very Low
  6. 24

    Operating plate making equipment to reproduce images from film to printing plates, digital output devices and presses

    Very Low
  7. 15

    Preparing and exposing carbon tissue for laying on cylinders by transfer method, and developing images.

    Very Low

7 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
73
AI does it for you
31

Sidekick wins, by 42 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3922

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?

Out of every 100 conversations

46
54

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. This job makes up 0.58% of the conversations.

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 pre-press technicians be worried?

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

Yes, much of this job is exposed. Generating layouts and checking proofs are rated Medium; scanning and camera work are Low; proofing and plate making rate Very Low. Automated layout and colour tools keep improving, so the remaining work is quality and specialist print.

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 →