Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.

“Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.” is a supplemental task performed by Electrical Engineers. Among the occupation's 22 rated tasks, workers place it 16th by importance (#7 most important). About 81% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Test characteristics of materials or products. in Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes. · importance 4.2
• Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget. · importance 4.0
• Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements. · importance 4.0
• Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications. · importance 3.9
• Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks. · importance 3.8
• Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products. · importance 3.7
• Collect data relating to commercial or residential development, population, or power system interconnection to determine operating efficiency of electrical systems. · importance 3.7
• Inspect completed installations and observe operations to ensure conformance to design and equipment specifications and compliance with operational, safety, or environmental standards. · importance 3.7
• Develop systems that produce electricity with renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, or biofuels. · importance 3.6
• Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems. · importance 3.6
• Prepare technical drawings, specifications of electrical systems, or topographical maps to ensure that installation and operations conform to standards and customer requirements. · importance 3.6
• Prepare specifications for purchases of materials or equipment. · importance 3.6
• Compile data and write reports regarding existing or potential electrical engineering studies or projects. · importance 3.6
• Estimate labor, material, or construction costs for budget preparation purposes. · importance 3.6

See all tasks on the Electrical Engineers page.

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-task-1356,
  title  = {Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.},
  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/tasks/task-1356}
}