AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 17-2011.00
Will AI replace Aerospace Engineers?
Aerospace Engineers: AI can already handle 4 of 16 tasks; the work mostly needs a frontier-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 16 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Aerospace Engineers, from most to least exposed. 4 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers. | Observed | Efficient | |
| Evaluate product data or design from inspections or reports for conformance to engineering principles, customer requirements, environmental regulations, or quality standards. | Observed | Standard | |
| Evaluate biofuel performance specifications to determine feasibility for aerospace applications. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Evaluate and approve selection of vendors by studying past performance or new advertisements. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Analyze project requests, proposals, or engineering data to determine feasibility, productibility, cost, or production time of aerospace or aeronautical products. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Plan or conduct experimental, environmental, operational, or stress tests on models or prototypes of aircraft or aerospace systems or equipment. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Plan or coordinate investigation and resolution of customers' reports of technical problems with aircraft or aerospace vehicles. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Formulate conceptual design of aeronautical or aerospace products or systems to meet customer requirements or conform to environmental regulations. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Direct or coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel involved in designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Direct aerospace research and development programs. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Develop design criteria for aeronautical or aerospace products or systems, including testing methods, production costs, quality standards, environmental standards, or completion dates. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Design or engineer filtration systems that reduce harmful emissions. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Design new or modify existing aerospace systems to reduce polluting emissions, such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, or smoke emissions. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Formulate mathematical models or other methods of computer analysis to develop, evaluate, or modify design, according to customer engineering requirements. | Observed | Standard | |
| Maintain records of performance reports for future reference. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Diagnose performance problems by reviewing reports or documentation from customers or field engineers or by inspecting malfunctioning or damaged products. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 3 of 16 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 13 of 16. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 93% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 93% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 7% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 67,710
- Median annual wage
- $134,960
- Middle half of earners
- $106,110 to $169,690
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +6.1%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians 75% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure41
- Automotive Engineers 71% skill overlap, about 10 months to move Exposure51
- Mechanical Engineers 68% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure48
- Agricultural Engineers 68% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure56
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 67% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure20
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Aerospace Engineers and AI
Will AI replace Aerospace Engineers?
AI already handles 4 of the 16 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 50 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +6.1% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Aerospace Engineers?
50 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 3 of the 16 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 13 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Aerospace Engineers tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers; Evaluate product data or design from inspections or reports for conformance to engineering principles, customer requirements, environmental regulations, or quality standards; Evaluate biofuel performance specifications to determine feasibility for aerospace applications. They are three of the 4 tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 93% of the role's importance-weighted task work. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Aerospace Engineers, and what do they earn?
67,710 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $134,960 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +6.1% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Aerospace Engineers. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/aerospace-engineers
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.