Job Check
Painters, Construction and Maintenance
Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Cover surfaces with dropcloths or masking tape and paper to protect surfaces during painting.Mostly human for now
- 02Read work orders or receive instructions from supervisors or homeowners to determine work requirements.Mostly human for now
- 03Apply paint, stain, varnish, enamel, or other finishes to equipment, buildings, bridges, or other structures, using brushes, spray guns, or rollers.Mostly human for now
- 04Fill cracks, holes, or joints with caulk, putty, plaster, or other fillers, using caulking guns or putty knives.Mostly human for now
- 05Smooth surfaces, using sandpaper, scrapers, brushes, steel wool, or sanding machines.Mostly human for now
- 06Erect scaffolding or swing gates, or set up ladders, to work above ground level.Mostly human for now
- 07Wash and treat surfaces with oil, turpentine, mildew remover, or other preparations, and sand rough spots to ensure that finishes will adhere properly.Mostly human for now
- 08Apply primers or sealers to prepare new surfaces, such as bare wood or metal, for finish coats.Mostly human for now
- 09Calculate amounts of required materials and estimate costs, based on surface measurements or work orders.AI could speed this up a lot
- 10Remove old finishes by stripping, sanding, wire brushing, burning, or using water or abrasive blasting.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
6%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 28% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 71% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Cover surfaces with dropcloths or masking tape and paper to protect surfaces during painting.
- Read work orders or receive instructions from supervisors or homeowners to determine work requirements.
- Apply paint, stain, varnish, enamel, or other finishes to equipment, buildings, bridges, or other structures, using brushes, spray guns, or rollers.