Often handed to AI
Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.
- Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. · 0.6%
Commercial and Industrial Designers
Occupation · SOC 27-1021.00
Design and develop manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and children's toys. Combine artistic talent with research on product use, marketing, and materials to create the most functional and appealing product design.
Also called: Design Engineer · Designer · Industrial Designer · Product Designer · Mechanical Designer · Mold Designer · Product Design Engineer · Product Development Engineer · Sign Designer · Art Glass Designer · Automobile Designer · Bank Note Designer
Job family: Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-27-1021-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Use as a copilot
Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.
- Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. · 1.1%
Keep a human in the loop
Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.
- Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. · 100.0% need a human
- Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. · 92.6% need a human
Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+3.2% by 2034)
- 2,500 openings/yr
- High AI exposure
- Observed AI use leans augmentation
- Median pay $79,450/yr
- Can largely be done remotely (teleworkable)
- A reversal from 2013 — rated low automation risk then (21st), high AI task-overlap now (75th)
75th-percentile task overlap — yet about 2,500 openings a year (+3.2% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 4379% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High | 69th | 0.9 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High | 83rd | 0.9 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High | 70th | 0.2 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.5), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.9). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 21st percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. | 0.9% | |
| Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. | 0.9% | |
| Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends. | 0.6% | |
| Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products. | 0.3% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +3.2% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 2,500 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 30,600 → 31,600 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Commercial and Industrial Designers sits at the 65th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
35% mean task exposure (2025)
65th percentile of 427 placed occupations
−3 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Product and Garment Designers · 2163 | 35% | Minimal |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Working with AI in this job
How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.
| Augmentation vs. automation | 43.8% working with AI · 30.2% handed to AI |
| Most common way people use AI here | Directive · AI does it; you give the instruction |
| Typical AI autonomy | 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently |
| Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) | 54.4% |
What people delegate to AI
The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.
| Task | How | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. | Iteration | 1.1% |
| Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. | Directive | 0.6% |
Where a human is still needed
Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.
| Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. | 100.0% | |
| Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. | 92.6% |
What people most often hand AI here
Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.
-
Help me read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.From: Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. · 1.1% of measured AI use · task iteration
-
Help me advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems.From: Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. · 0.6% of measured AI use · directive
Tasks
All 17 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment. Core · importance 4.4
- Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends. Core · importance 4.3
- Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics. Core · importance 4.1
- Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products. Core · importance 4.0
- Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification. Core · importance 4.0
- Develop industrial standards and regulatory guidelines. Supplemental · importance 3.8
- Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements. Core · importance 3.7
- Coordinate the look and function of product lines. Supplemental · importance 3.6
- Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches. Core · importance 3.5
- Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality. Core · importance 3.4
- Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it. Core · importance 3.4
- Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products. Core · importance 3.3
- Supervise assistants' work throughout the design process. Supplemental · importance 3.3
- Design graphic material for use as ornamentation, illustration, or advertising on manufactured materials and packaging or containers. Supplemental · importance 3.2
- Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts. Core · importance 3.1
- Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools. Core · importance 3.0
- Advise corporations on issues involving corporate image projects or problems. Supplemental · importance 1.9
Work activities
- Draw detailed or technical illustrations.
- Coordinate construction or installation activities.
- Develop artistic or design concepts for decoration, exhibition, or commercial purposes.
- Collaborate with others to develop or refine designs.
- Present work to clients for approval.
- Evaluate quality of materials or products.
- Evaluate potential of products, technologies, or resources.
- Evaluate characteristics of products.
- Monitor current trends.
- Conduct research to inform art, designs, or other work.
- Estimate costs for projects or productions.
- Monitor the productivity or efficiency of industrial operations.
- Establish standards for products, processes, or procedures.
- Coordinate design activities.
- Build models, patterns, or templates.
- Conduct market research.
- Develop safety standards, policies, or procedures.
- Develop promotional strategies or plans.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
| Design | 4.7 | |
| Engineering and Technology | 4.7 | |
| Production and Processing | 4.0 | |
| Mechanical | 4.0 | |
| Computers and Electronics | 3.9 | |
| Mathematics | 3.7 | |
| English Language | 3.6 | |
| Physics | 3.1 |
Essential skills
| Active Listening | 4.0 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.9 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.8 | |
| Speaking | 3.5 | |
| Writing | 3.1 | |
| Monitoring | 3.1 |
Abilities
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.9 | |
| Originality | 3.9 | |
| Near Vision | 3.9 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 3.8 | |
| Written Comprehension | 3.8 | |
| Oral Expression | 3.8 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.8 | |
| Visualization | 3.8 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.6 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.6 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.6 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.5 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 3.4 | |
| Visual Color Discrimination | 3.3 | |
| Written Expression | 3.1 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.1 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.1 | |
| Selective Attention | 3.1 |
Transferable skills
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.8 | |
| Operations Analysis | 3.3 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.3 | |
| Time Management | 3.3 | |
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.1 | |
| Coordination | 3.1 | |
| Persuasion | 3.1 | |
| Technology Design | 3.1 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 57.
Tools & technology
Showing the top 40 of 61.
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Typical entry-level education
- Bachelor's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Preparation level
- SVP (7.0 to < 8.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians , Visual and Performing Arts . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| Bachelor's Degree | 67.9% | |
| Some College Courses | 15.2% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 12.3% | |
| High School Diploma | 4.3% | |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 0.3% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Interest areas
| Applied Arts and Design | 6.7 | |
| Visual Arts | 5.3 | |
| Engineering | 5.0 | |
| Mechanics/Electronics | 3.1 | |
| Marketing/Advertising | 3.0 | |
| Construction/Woodwork | 2.7 | |
| Public Speaking | 2.5 | |
| Mathematics/Statistics | 2.4 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Artistic | 5.5 | |
| Realistic | 4.6 | |
| Investigative | 4.1 | |
| Enterprising | 3.7 | |
| Conventional | 3.5 |
Work styles
| Attention to Detail | 4.0 | |
| Intellectual Curiosity | 3.0 | |
| Innovation | 2.8 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $49,390 |
| 25th percentile | $62,040 |
| Median (50th) | $79,450 |
| 75th percentile | $103,170 |
| 90th percentile | $134,840 |
| People employed | 30,250 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing · Sector | 10,250 | $76,240 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 7,130 | $89,920 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 4,610 | $82,300 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 3,220 | $98,240 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 1,650 | $81,870 |
| Retail Trade · Sector | 1,510 | $67,980 |
| Construction · Sector | 1,290 | $72,640 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 1,090 | $79,490 |
| Testing Laboratories and Services · National industry | 620 | $102,860 |
| Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · National industry | 570 | $66,930 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 490 | $90,790 |
| Information · Sector | 230 | $108,530 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Jewelry and Silverware Manufacturing · National industry | 40.94× | 160 |
| Testing Laboratories and Services · National industry | 18.55× | 620 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 7.27× | 1,650 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 5.84× | 3,220 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 4.09× | 10,250 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 3.89× | 4,610 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 3.37× | 7,130 |
| Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · National industry | 2.29× | 570 |
Related occupations
Part of the Advanced Manufacturing and Energy & Natural Resources career clusters.
- Mechanical Drafters · 17-3013.00 Compare →
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- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic · 51-4062.00 Compare →
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Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Commercial and Industrial Designers — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Bachelor's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians · field of study
- Visual and Performing Arts · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 65th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Commercial and Industrial Designers show 75th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 2,500 annual U.S. openings
- Commercial and Industrial Designers rank in the 75th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 2,500 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+3.2%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $79,450, across about 30,250 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
- Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 44% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Commercial and Industrial Designers show 75th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 2,500 annual U.S. openings • Commercial and Industrial Designers rank in the 75th percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 2,500 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+3.2%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $79,450, across about 30,250 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 44% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) Source: Singulariki — "Commercial and Industrial Designers". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1021-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
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
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Commercial and Industrial Designers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1021-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Commercial and Industrial Designers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1021-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-27-1021-00,
title = {Commercial and Industrial Designers},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1021-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.