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Craft and related trades workers · code 7321

Pre-press technicians

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

The mildest of the ILO’s four “exposed” groups. It ranks 314 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • 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.

61.8
Holds up
against AI Exposed: Gradient 1

AI could take on 38.2 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 38.2 = 61.8

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

30.5
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs

26.8
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 38.3 · hand skill 37.5 · cramped spaces 4.6 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

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.

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 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out 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.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 68.5, while the average is 38.2. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 68.5

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

    Medium
  2. 66.5

    Evaluating printed proofs, checking and correcting them for quality

    Medium
  3. 41.5

    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. 28.5

    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. 23.5

    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 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

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

AI helps you
73
AI does it for you
31

Helping wins by 42 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3922

Compared with similar jobs

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” group, averaging 83.8. This one is below that.