Direct design or development activities.

Direct design or development activities. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 6 occupations and seen in 8 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Direct scientific or technical activities. in Guiding, Directing, and Motivating 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, 7 (88%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

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.

• Conduct or direct system-level automotive testing. · Automotive Engineers · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Guide technical staff in developing materials for specific uses in projected products or devices. · Materials Engineers · importance 4.0 · exposure with tools
• Direct activities of technicians engaged in preparing drawings or specification documents. · Architects, Except Landscape and Naval · importance 4.0 · direct LLM exposure
• Direct or coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel involved in designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products. · Aerospace Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Conduct or oversee the conduct of prototype development or microfabrication activities to ensure compliance to specifications and promote effective production processes. · Microsystems Engineers · importance 3.7 · exposure with tools
• Coordinate activities of workers engaged in research, planning, and development. · Petroleum Engineers · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Direct aerospace research and development programs. · Aerospace Engineers · importance 3.5 · exposure with tools
• Manage new product introduction projects to ensure effective deployment of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices or applications. · Microsystems Engineers · importance 3.3 · exposure with tools

Occupations that perform this

• Automotive Engineers
• Materials Engineers
• Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
• Aerospace Engineers
• Microsystems Engineers
• Petroleum Engineers

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
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-direct-design-or-development-activities,
  title  = {Direct design or development activities.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/direct-design-or-development-activities}
}