AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 35-2011.00
Will AI replace Cooks, Fast Food?
Cooks, Fast Food: AI can already handle 1 of 19 tasks; most of the work is hands-on, and the part AI can address mostly needs a frontier-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 19 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Cooks, Fast Food, from most to least exposed. 1 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verify that prepared food meets requirements for quality and quantity. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Wash, cut, and prepare foods designated for cooking. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Schedule activities and equipment use with managers, using information about daily menus to help coordinate cooking times. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Maintain sanitation, health, and safety standards in work areas. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Order and take delivery of supplies. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Cook the exact number of items ordered by each customer, working on several different orders simultaneously. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prepare specialty foods, such as pizzas, fish and chips, sandwiches, or tacos, following specific methods that usually require short preparation time. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Serve orders to customers at windows, counters, or tables. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Take food and drink orders and receive payment from customers. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prepare dough, following recipe. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Pre-cook items, such as bacon, to prepare them for later use. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Measure ingredients required for specific food items. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Mix ingredients, such as pancake or waffle batters. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Operate large-volume cooking equipment, such as grills, deep-fat fryers, or griddles. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prepare and serve beverages, such as coffee or fountain drinks. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Clean food preparation areas, cooking surfaces, and utensils. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Read food order slips or receive verbal instructions as to food required by patron, and prepare and cook food according to instructions. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Clean, stock, and restock workstations and display cases. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Cook and package batches of food, such as hamburgers or fried chicken, prepared to order or kept warm until sold. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 19 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 19 of 19. 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 21% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 21% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 80% 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
- 641,070
- Median annual wage
- $30,890
- Middle half of earners
- $27,260 to $37,260
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- -13.5%
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.
- Cooks, Short Order 76% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure17
- Cooks, Restaurant 75% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure20
- Fast Food and Counter Workers 73% skill overlap, about 10 months to move Exposure17
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders 71% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure14
- Food Preparation Workers 71% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure16
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Cooks, Fast Food and AI
Will AI replace Cooks, Fast Food?
AI already handles 1 of the 19 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 21 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 -13.5% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Cooks, Fast Food?
21 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. 0 of the 19 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 19 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Cooks, Fast Food tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Verify that prepared food meets requirements for quality and quantity. It is the only task that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 21% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 80% is hands-on work that no model tier covers. 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 Cooks, Fast Food, and what do they earn?
641,070 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $30,890 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of -13.5% 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: Cooks, Fast Food. 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/cooks-fast-food
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