Estimate technical or resource requirements for development or production projects.

Estimate technical or resource requirements for development or production projects. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 12 occupations and seen in 18 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Determine resource needs of projects or operations. in Making Decisions and Solving Problems .

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 18 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 18 (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 3 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.004% 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.

• Identify required data, data acquisition plans, and test parameters, setting up equipment to conform to these specifications. · Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians · importance 4.6 · exposure with tools
• Calculate dimensions, square footage, profile and component specifications, and material quantities, using calculator or computer. · Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 4.2 · direct LLM exposure
• Identify operational requirements for new systems to inform selection of technological solutions. · Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialists · importance 4.2 · exposure with tools
• Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications. · Civil Engineers · importance 3.9 · exposure with tools
• Estimate material, time, and staffing requirements for a given project, based on work orders, job specifications, and experience. · First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand · importance 3.9 · exposure with tools
• Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications. · Electrical Engineers · importance 3.9 · direct LLM exposure
• Calculate required capacities for equipment of proposed system to obtain specified performance and submit data to engineering personnel for approval. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.8 · direct LLM exposure
• Identify materials appropriate for mechatronic system designs. · Mechatronics Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Calculate design specifications or cost, material, and resource estimates, and prepare project schedules and budgets. · Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Estimate time or resource requirements for ergonomic or human factors research or development projects. · Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Prepare specifications for purchases of materials or equipment. · Electrical Engineers · importance 3.6 · direct LLM exposure
• Estimate costs, production times, or staffing requirements for new designs. · Manufacturing Engineers · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Determine quality, cost, strength, and quantity of required materials, and enter figures on materials lists. · Architectural and Civil Drafters · importance 3.5 · exposure with tools
• 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
• Research equipment or component needs, sources, competitive prices, delivery times, or ongoing operational costs. · Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.3 · exposure with tools
• Calculate weights, volumes, and stress factors and their implications for technical aspects of designs. · Architectural and Civil Drafters · importance 3.1 · direct LLM exposure
• Determine project material or equipment needs. · Electronics Engineers, Except Computer · importance 3.1 · exposure with tools
• Prepare and interpret specifications, calculating weights, volumes, or stress factors. · Electrical and Electronics Drafters · direct LLM exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians
• Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialists
• Civil Engineers
• First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand
• Electrical Engineers
• Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Mechatronics Engineers
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists
• Architectural and Civil Drafters
• Electrical and Electronics Drafters

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-estimate-technical-or-resource-requirements-for-development-or-production-projects,
  title  = {Estimate technical or resource requirements for development or production 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/estimate-technical-or-resource-requirements-for-development-or-production-projects}
}