AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 51-9071.06
Will AI replace Gem and Diamond Workers?
Gem and Diamond Workers: AI can already handle 2 of 14 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 14 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Gem and Diamond Workers, from most to least exposed. 2 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Dismantle lapping, boring, cutting, polishing, and shaping equipment and machinery to clean and lubricate it. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 14 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 14 of 14. 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 14% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 14% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 86% 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
- 22,440
- Median annual wage
- $52,540
- Middle half of earners
- $39,520 to $69,810
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- -5.5%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034. BLS publishes these figures by SOC code, so O*NET occupations that share a SOC code show the same figures.
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.
- Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers 79% skill overlap, about 8 months to move Exposure26
- Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing 63% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure35
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners 59% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure21
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand 59% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure20
- Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians 57% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure23
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Gem and Diamond Workers and AI
Will AI replace Gem and Diamond Workers?
AI already handles 2 of the 14 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 23 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 -5.5% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Gem and Diamond Workers?
23 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 14 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 14 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Gem and Diamond Workers tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality; Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items. They are the tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 14% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 86% 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 Gem and Diamond Workers, and what do they earn?
22,440 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $52,540 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of -5.5% 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: Gem and Diamond Workers. 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/gem-and-diamond-workers
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