# Will butchers be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Butchers score 27 of 100 for AI exposure. 67% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 16% today and speed up another 17%. - **16%** AI can do it - **17%** AI helps - **67%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 67% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 11 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 2 of them today, speeds up 2 and leaves 7 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Record quantity of meat received and issued to cooks or keep records of meat sales. Digital inventory and sales records AI can fully maintain. | 82% AI can do it | | Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories. Forecast orders from sales data; person approves purchases. | 62% AI can do it | | Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat. Scale, label and pricing software help; wrapping stays manual. | 35% AI helps | | Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details. Live negotiation stays with people; AI can prepare briefing notes. | 25% AI helps | | Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality. Inspection is sensory and physical; receiving logs can be digitized. | 20% Needs a person | ## How butchers compare All occupations (923) Production (107) **Butchers score 27**, 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 22 for production. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $40,140 a year, May 2025 People employed 136,430 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +2.4% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Cut, trim, bone, tie and grind beef, pork and poultry manually - Check AI supply forecasts against case sales in Microsoft Excel - Set cut weights, labels and prices in scale and pricing software - Write supplier negotiation briefs in Microsoft Word before calls - Hold a current food handler certification for meat handling - Cure and smoke meat to recipe with hands-on temperature checks ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Meat trimmers16 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/meat-trimmers/) - [Slaughterers12 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/slaughterers/) - [Cooks23 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cooks/) - [Food preparation workers17 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-preparation-workers/) - [Bakers25 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/bakers/) ## Questions about butchers and AI Will AI replace butchers? Partly. About 2 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly recording meat received and sold and forecasting supply orders. Cutting, trimming, tying roasts and arranging displays stay with butchers because they need hands on the meat. Which butcher tasks is AI taking over? Keeping inventory and sales records, with an exposure score of 82, is the task AI handles most fully. Digital systems can log every shipment of meat received and issued to cooks. Supply ordering, with an exposure score of 62, can be forecast from sales data, with a person approving each purchase. Which butcher tasks stay human? Cutting, trimming, boning and grinding meat, with an exposure score of 4, stays with butchers because each piece needs knife skill and physical handling. Tying roasts, exposure 5, and preparing special customer cuts, exposure 8, rely on the same hands-on work. How can butchers stay valuable as AI spreads? Keep knife work and custom cuts in your hands, since they carry the most human value. Check every AI supply forecast in Excel against what the case actually sells. Write supplier briefs in Word before negotiating, then take the live call yourself. Learn the scale and pricing software so display labels stay accurate. ## Related jobs - [Short order cooks20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/short-order-cooks/) - [Chefs36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/chefs/) - [Cafeteria cooks25 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cafeteria-cooks/) - [Food batchmakers24 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-batchmakers/) ## Next steps for butchers - ### 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.