AI exposure: Tire Builders
Operate machines to build tires.
Reading this score
computedTire Builders is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 1.0% of weighted task load, rank 913 of 923. 98.5% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 3.00 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 Inspect worn tires for faults, cracks, cuts, and nail holes, and to determine if tires are..., at 16.7%. The least is Pull plies from supply racks, and align plies with edges of drums, at 0.0%. A gap of 16.7% 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 104 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 20 tasks, 0 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 20 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 | 0.05 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 3.00 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.00 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.30 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.42 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.05 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inspect worn tires for faults, cracks, cuts, and nail holes, and to determine if tires are suitable for retreading. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.54 | untouched |
| Build semi-raw rubber treads onto buffed tire casings to prepare tires for vulcanization in recapping or retreading processes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.60 | untouched |
| Trim excess rubber and imperfections during retreading processes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Fill cuts and holes in tires, using hot rubber. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Place tires into molds for new tread. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.85 | untouched |
| Fit inner tubes and final layers of rubber onto tires. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.82 | untouched |
| Buff tires according to specifications for width and undertread depth. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Brush or spray solvents onto plies to ensure adhesion, and repeat process as specified, alternating direction of each ply to strengthen tires. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.59 | untouched |
| Start rollers that bond tread and plies as drums revolve. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.57 | untouched |
| Align treads with guides, start drums to wind treads onto plies, and slice ends. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.56 | untouched |
| Measure tires to determine mold size requirements. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Roll hand rollers over rebuilt casings, exerting pressure to ensure adhesion between camelbacks and casings. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Position ply stitcher rollers and drums according to width of stock, using hand tools and gauges. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Cut plies at splice points, and press ends together to form continuous bands. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.36 | untouched |
| Depress pedals to rotate drums, and wind specified numbers of plies around drums to form tire bodies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Clean and paint completed tires. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Rub cement sticks on drum edges to provide adhesive surfaces for plies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Depress pedals to collapse drums after processing is complete. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.03 | untouched |
| Wind chafers and breakers onto plies. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
| Pull plies from supply racks, and align plies with edges of drums. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.45 | 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.