AI exposure: Sewers, Hand
Sew, join, reinforce, or finish, usually with needle and thread, a variety of manufactured items. Includes weavers and stitchers.
Reading this score
computedAt 9.1% of weighted task load, Sewers, Hand sits at the 12th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 86.6% 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 11 tasks it averages 2.73 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 thread, twine, cord, or yarn to be used, and thread needles, at 50.0%. The least is Tie, knit, weave or knot ribbon, yarn, or decorative materials, 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 86 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 11 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 10 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 | 0.41 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.73 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.06 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.14 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.77 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.36 | 0-3 |
Task by task
11 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Select thread, twine, cord, or yarn to be used, and thread needles. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.83 | exposed |
| Draw and cut patterns according to specifications. | 27.5% | 10.0% | 62.5% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Measure and align parts, fasteners, or trimmings, following seams, edges, or markings on parts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.81 | untouched |
| Trim excess threads or edges of parts, using scissors or knives. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Sew, join, reinforce, or finish parts of articles, such as garments, books, mattresses, toys, and wigs, using needles and thread or other materials. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.60 | untouched |
| Use different sewing techniques such as felling, tacking, basting, embroidery, and fagoting. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Fit garments on clients, altering as needed. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.94 | untouched |
| Smooth seams with heated irons, flat bones, or rubbing sticks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Fold, twist, stretch, or drape material, and secure articles in preparation for sewing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Sew buttonholes, or add lace or other trimming. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Tie, knit, weave or knot ribbon, yarn, or decorative materials. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.37 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 1 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
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.