Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.

“Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.” is a supplemental task performed by Gem and Diamond Workers. Among the occupation's 22 rated tasks, workers place it 16th by importance (#7 most important). About 25% 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.

• Sort materials or products. in Processing Information

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

• Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs. · importance 4.7
• Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems. · importance 4.6
• Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones. · importance 4.5
• Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors. · importance 4.4
• Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes. · importance 4.4
• Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them. · importance 4.3
• Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values. · importance 4.3
• Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams. · importance 4.3
• Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping. · importance 4.3
• Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items. · importance 3.9
• Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments. · importance 3.7
• Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds. · importance 3.6
• Dismantle lapping, boring, cutting, polishing, and shaping equipment and machinery to clean and lubricate it. · importance 3.2
• Locate and mark drilling or cutting positions on stones or dies, using diamond chips and power hand tools.

See all tasks on the Gem and Diamond Workers 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-15101,
  title  = {Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.},
  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-15101}
}