Confer with engineering, supervisory, or manufacturing personnel to exchange technical information.

“Confer with engineering, supervisory, or manufacturing personnel to exchange technical information.” is a core task performed by Machinists. Among the occupation's 29 rated tasks, workers place it 10th by importance (#20 most important). About 88% 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.

• Communicate with others about operational plans or activities. in Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E1. Direct exposure — a language model could plausibly cut the time to do this task 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 1.00. Automation potential label: T1.

How AI is actually used on this kind of task

The Anthropic Economic Index observes how people actually use AI on tasks like this one across millions of real conversations.

• 0.004% share of AI-use records mapped to this task

Observed AI use describes people choosing to use AI as a tool on this kind of task today. It is augmentation and assistance, not a measure of jobs replaced.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Calculate dimensions or tolerances, using instruments, such as micrometers or vernier calipers. · importance 4.8
• Machine parts to specifications, using machine tools, such as lathes, milling machines, shapers, or grinders. · importance 4.8
• Measure, examine, or test completed units to check for defects and ensure conformance to specifications, using precision instruments, such as micrometers. · importance 4.6
• Set up, adjust, or operate basic or specialized machine tools used to perform precision machining operations. · importance 4.6
• Program computers or electronic instruments, such as numerically controlled machine tools. · importance 4.5
• Study sample parts, blueprints, drawings, or engineering information to determine methods or sequences of operations needed to fabricate products. · importance 4.5
• Monitor the feed and speed of machines during the machining process. · importance 4.5
• Maintain machine tools in proper operational condition. · importance 4.5
• Support metalworking projects from planning and fabrication through assembly, inspection, and testing, using knowledge of machine functions, metal properties, and mathematics. · importance 4.4
• Fit and assemble parts to make or repair machine tools. · importance 4.4
• Align and secure holding fixtures, cutting tools, attachments, accessories, or materials onto machines. · importance 4.3
• Operate equipment to verify operational efficiency. · importance 4.3
• Confer with numerical control programmers to check and ensure that new programs or machinery will function properly and that output will meet specifications. · importance 4.3
• Evaluate machining procedures and recommend changes or modifications for improved efficiency or adaptability. · importance 4.3

See all tasks on the Machinists 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
• 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-task-3112,
  title  = {Confer with engineering, supervisory, or manufacturing personnel to exchange technical information.},
  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/tasks/task-3112}
}