Analyze costs and benefits of proposed designs or projects.

Analyze costs and benefits of proposed designs or projects. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 15 occupations and seen in 16 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Evaluate designs, specifications, or other technical data. in Analyzing Data or Information .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 16 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 16 (100%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

The Anthropic Economic Index observes real AI use on 2 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.010% per task.

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Assist in the assessment, acquisition, or deployment of new electronic document management systems. · Document Management Specialists · importance 4.2 · exposure with tools
• Evaluate transportation project needs or costs. · Transportation Planners · importance 4.0 · exposure with tools
• Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites. · Petroleum Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Conduct cost-benefit analyses for the construction of water supply systems, runoff collection networks, water and wastewater treatment plants, or wastewater collection systems. · Water/Wastewater Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Evaluate subcontractors or subcontractor bids for quality, cost, and reliability. · Solar Energy Installation Managers · importance 3.5 · exposure with tools
• Conduct statistical studies to analyze or compare production costs for sustainable and nonsustainable designs. · Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.4 · exposure with tools
• Analyze the financial impacts of sustainable manufacturing processes or sustainable product manufacturing. · Manufacturing Engineers · importance 3.4 · exposure with tools
• Calculate the efficiency or power output of a fuel cell system or process. · Fuel Cell Engineers · importance 3.3 · direct LLM exposure
• Calculate excavation tonnage and prepare graphs and fill-hauling diagrams for use in earth-moving operations. · Architectural and Civil Drafters · importance 3.3 · exposure with tools
• Perform thermal, stress, or cost reduction analyses for solar systems. · Solar Energy Systems Engineers · importance 3.2 · exposure with tools
• Conduct statistical studies to analyze or compare production costs for sustainable and nonsustainable designs. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.0 · exposure with tools
• Calculate potential energy savings by comparing estimated energy consumption of proposed design to baseline standards. · Architects, Except Landscape and Naval · importance 2.6 · exposure with tools
• Analyze, estimate, or report production costs. · Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians · exposure with tools
• Conduct statistical studies to analyze or compare production costs for sustainable and nonsustainable designs. · Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians · exposure with tools
• Conduct statistical studies to analyze or compare production costs for sustainable or nonsustainable designs. · Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians · exposure with tools
• Estimate the costs and benefits of municipal projects, such as hydroelectric power plants, irrigation systems, and wastewater treatment facilities. · Hydrologic Technicians · exposure with tools

Occupations that perform this

• Document Management Specialists
• Transportation Planners
• Petroleum Engineers
• Water/Wastewater Engineers
• Solar Energy Installation Managers
• Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians
• Manufacturing Engineers
• Fuel Cell Engineers
• Architectural and Civil Drafters
• Solar Energy Systems Engineers
• Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Hydrologic Technicians

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-analyze-costs-and-benefits-of-proposed-designs-or-projects,
  title  = {Analyze costs and benefits of proposed designs or projects.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/analyze-costs-and-benefits-of-proposed-designs-or-projects}
}