# Will bartenders be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Bartenders score 26 of 100 for AI exposure. 67% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 33%. - **33%** AI helps - **67%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 69% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 20 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 7 and leaves 13 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Create drink recipes. AI drafts recipes quickly; a person must taste and approve. | 62% AI helps | | Order or requisition liquors and supplies. Inventory software and AI can draft orders for approval. | 60% AI helps | | Balance cash receipts. Software reconciles totals; counting physical cash stays manual. | 55% AI helps | | Plan bar menus. AI drafts menus and pricing; the owner decides concept. | 55% AI helps | | Plan, organize, and control the operations of a cocktail lounge or bar. AI helps with reports and scheduling; leadership stays human. | 40% AI helps | ## How bartenders compare All occupations (923) Food preparation and serving (16) **Bartenders score 26**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 25 for food preparation and serving. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $34,340 a year, May 2025 People employed 756,390 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +5.0% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Pour and serve wine, bottled beer and draft beer manually - Slice and pit fruit garnishes with a bar knife - Taste and approve recipes before drinks go on the menu - Count physical cash drawers and reconcile against POS totals in QuickBooks Point of Sale - Arrange bottle and glass displays for the back bar - Remove rowdy patrons safely and call for support when needed ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Dining room attendants10 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/dining-room-attendants/) - [Fast food workers24 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/fast-food-workers/) - [Baristas23 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/baristas/) - [Food preparation workers17 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-preparation-workers/) - [Cooks23 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cooks/) ## Questions about bartenders and AI Will AI replace bartenders? Partly. About 2 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drink recipe drafting and liquor ordering. Pouring, serving, garnishing and handling patrons stay with people because they need hands and presence in the room. Which tasks AI is taking over for bartenders? Create drink recipes has an exposure score of 62, the highest in this job, because AI can draft recipes quickly. Order or requisition liquors and supplies scores 60, since inventory software can draft orders for a manager to approve. In both cases a person still tastes or signs off. Which tasks stay human for bartenders? Serving wine, beer and drinks scores 4 on exposure, and removing rowdy patrons scores 3. Both need physical presence and hands on work, so AI has little to take. Cleaning bars, slicing fruit and arranging bottle displays also score 5 or below. How do bartenders stay valuable as AI takes on more tasks? Build skill in the hands on parts of the shift, such as pouring, garnish prep and running a bar in busy hours. Learn the POS and inventory tools like Intuit QuickBooks Point of Sale and NCR Advanced Checkout Solution so you can check AI drafted orders and cash totals. Taste every recipe before it goes on the menu. ## Related jobs - [Waiters31 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/waiters/) - [Chefs36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/chefs/) - [Food service managers41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-service-managers/) - [Food service supervisors41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-service-supervisors/) ## Next steps for bartenders - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.