Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.

Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 8 occupations and seen in 8 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Confer with clients to determine needs or order specifications. in Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates .

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 8 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 4 (50%) 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 0.005% 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.

• Confer with customers to determine furniture colors or finishes. · Furniture Finishers · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Meet with clients, printers, or designers to discuss job requirements or binding plans. · Print Binding and Finishing Workers · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Discuss design specifications with designers, and convert their original models of garments into patterns of separate parts that can be laid out on a length of fabric. · Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers · importance 4.2 · exposure with tools
• Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates. · Upholsterers · importance 4.0 · direct LLM exposure
• Confer with customers to determine types of material and garment styles desired. · Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers · importance 4.0 · no direct exposure
• Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details. · Butchers and Meat Cutters · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Draw up detailed specifications and discuss projects with customers. · Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters · importance 3.9 · direct LLM exposure
• Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs. · Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers · importance 3.5 · exposure with tools

Occupations that perform this

• Furniture Finishers
• Print Binding and Finishing Workers
• Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers
• Upholsterers
• Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
• Butchers and Meat Cutters
• Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters
• Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

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-confer-with-customers-or-designers-to-determine-order-specifications,
  title  = {Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.},
  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/confer-with-customers-or-designers-to-determine-order-specifications}
}