Industrial control software
Technology category · O*NET
Industrial control software is a technology category in the O*NET database. Across U.S. occupations, 138 report using software or tools in this category. The named products below are the specific examples O*NET records for those jobs. The occupations that use it sit, on average, at the 69th percentile of AI task-exposure ( high) — how much that work overlaps with what AI can do, not a sign the tool is being replaced. See where every tool category sits.
A Hot tag marks technologies O*NET sees frequently in employer job postings; In demand marks tools an occupation specifically requires.
Example software & tools
Ranked by how many occupations list each product. Each number is an occupation count — a job is counted once per product — so the product rows overlap and do not sum to the category total.
Showing the top 40 of 169 products in this category.
Occupations that use Industrial control software
- Administrative Services Managers
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians
- Agricultural Engineers
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Architectural and Engineering Managers
- Automotive Engineers
- Aviation Inspectors
- Billing and Posting Clerks
- Biofuels Processing Technicians
- Biofuels Production Managers
- Biomass Plant Technicians
- Biomass Power Plant Managers
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
- Chemical Engineers
- Chemical Plant and System Operators
- Civil Engineers
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers
- Computer Network Architects
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
- Computer Programmers
- Computer Systems Analysts
- Computer Systems Engineers/Architects
- Computer User Support Specialists
- Computer and Information Research Scientists
- Construction Managers
- Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door
- Conveyor Operators and Tenders
- Crane and Tower Operators
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Data Scientists
- Database Administrators
- Dredge Operators
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Electrical Engineers
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers
- Electrical and Electronics Drafters
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay
Showing 40 of 138 occupations.
How AI is used by roles that use Industrial control software
A software category is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles that report using Industrial control software and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles, weighted by how much observed AI activity each one has. 42.8% of the 138 roles that use this category carry observed AI-usage data (59 roles).
Across those roles, 44.7% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 41.7% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.87 / 5.
| Collaboration pattern | Share | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| directive | 36.4% | AI does it; you give the instruction |
| task iteration | 25.8% | you and AI go back and forth |
| learning | 16.3% | you ask AI to explain or teach |
| feedback loop | 5.3% | AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback |
| validation | 2.6% | you do it; AI checks your work |
Roles behind this signal
The roles using this category that have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.
| Occupation | Works with AI | Autonomy |
|---|---|---|
| Historians | 45.3% | 4.0/5 |
| Mathematicians | 44.6% | 4.0/5 |
| Robotics Engineers | 42.0% | 4.0/5 |
| Management Analysts | 62.4% | 4.0/5 |
| Architectural and Engineering Managers | 66.3% | 4.0/5 |
| Electrical Engineers | 45.2% | 4.0/5 |
| Nanosystems Engineers | 63.0% | 4.0/5 |
| Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | 45.3% | 4.0/5 |
| Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 27.2% | 4.0/5 |
| Industrial Machinery Mechanics | 22.8% | 4.0/5 |
| Automotive Engineers | 56.2% | 4.0/5 |
| Microsystems Engineers | 59.2% | 4.0/5 |
Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Roles list software categories in O*NET; this does not mean AI is used inside Industrial control software, only that people in those roles use AI. Some conversations are left unclassified, so shares need not sum to 100.
Industries that concentrate this
Where Industrial control software matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly use Industrial control software (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5, or report using the tool category). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.
Nationally, about 15.5% of workers are in occupations that significantly use Industrial control software (measured across 67 industries).
Sectors with the most such workers
| Sector | Workers | Employment reach |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 4,874,820 | 38.2% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 2,923,530 | 27.1% |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 2,114,050 | 28.6% |
| Construction | 1,921,980 | 23.7% |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 1,535,400 | 17.0% |
| Wholesale Trade | 1,497,870 | 24.8% |
| Retail Trade | 1,275,780 | 8.2% |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 831,080 | 3.6% |
| Information | 755,530 | 26.0% |
| Finance and Insurance | 737,230 | 11.8% |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 691,330 | 24.6% |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 650,050 | 14.7% |
Industries where it is most concentrated
| Industry | Level | Concentration | Employment reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind Electric Power Generation | National industry | 5× | 77.5% |
| Machine Shops | National industry | 4.21× | 65.3% |
| Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation | National industry | 4.21× | 65.2% |
| Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors | National industry | 3.97× | 61.6% |
| Nuclear Electric Power Generation | National industry | 3.74× | 57.9% |
| Utilities | Sector | 3.26× | 50.6% |
| Engineering Services | National industry | 3.25× | 50.4% |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction | Sector | 2.56× | 39.7% |
| Manufacturing | Sector | 2.46× | 38.2% |
| Testing Laboratories and Services | National industry | 2.46× | 38.2% |
| Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors | National industry | 2.38× | 36.9% |
| Transportation and Warehousing | Sector | 1.85× | 28.6% |
Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.
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
- Census NAICS 2022 U.S. Census Bureau
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
Data compiled June 3, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Singulariki. "Industrial control software." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/tools/industrial-control-software
Singulariki. (2026). Industrial control software. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/tools/industrial-control-software
@misc{singulariki-industrial-control-software,
title = {Industrial control software},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/tools/industrial-control-software}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.