AI exposure: Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers
Shape molten glass according to patterns.
Reading this score
computedAt 17.4% of weighted task load, Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers sits at the 29th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 74.4% 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 19 tasks it averages 2.47 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 Record manufacturing information, at 73.3%. The least is Superimpose bent tubing on asbestos patterns to ensure accuracy, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% 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 more exposed than most. The median across the 107 roles in the group is 16.1%, and only 45 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 19 tasks, 5 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 | 0.89 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.47 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.13 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.42 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.05 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.97 | 0-3 |
Task by task
19 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record manufacturing information, such as quantities, sizes, or types of goods produced. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.28 | exposed |
| Design and create glass objects, using blowpipes and artisans' hand tools and equipment. | 60.0% | 15.0% | 25.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Determine types and quantities of glass required to fabricate products. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.27 | exposed |
| Set up and adjust machine press stroke lengths and pressures and regulate oven temperatures, according to glass types to be processed. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.38 | exposed |
| Develop sketches of glass products into blueprint specifications, applying knowledge of glass technology and glass blowing. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Heat glass to pliable stage, using gas flames or ovens and rotating glass to heat it uniformly. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.77 | untouched |
| Operate and maintain finishing machines to grind, drill, sand, bevel, decorate, wash, or polish glass or glass products. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Operate electric kilns that heat and mold glass sheets to the shape and curve of metal jigs. | 7.9% | 4.6% | 87.5% | 3.81 | untouched |
| Place electrodes in tube ends and heat them with glass burners to fuse them into place. | 7.1% | 5.4% | 87.5% | 3.57 | untouched |
| Shape, bend, or join sections of glass, using paddles, pressing and flattening hand tools, or cork. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.59 | untouched |
| Blow tubing into specified shapes to prevent glass from collapsing, using compressed air or own breath, or blow and rotate gathers in molds or on boards to obtain final shapes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Cut lengths of tubing to specified sizes, using files or cutting wheels. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Inspect, weigh, and measure products to verify conformance to specifications, using instruments such as micrometers, calipers, magnifiers, or rulers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Strike necks of finished articles to separate articles from blowpipes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.75 | untouched |
| Place rubber hoses on ends of tubing and charge tubing with gas. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.75 | untouched |
| Place glass into dies or molds of presses and control presses to form products, such as glassware components or optical blanks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.73 | untouched |
| Repair broken scrolls by replacing them with new sections of tubing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.58 | untouched |
| Spray or swab molds with oil solutions to prevent adhesion of glass. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.44 | untouched |
| Superimpose bent tubing on asbestos patterns to ensure accuracy. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.43 | 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.