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How exposed to AI is a Prepress Technicians and Worker?

Of the 25 tasks O*NET lists for prepress technicians and workers, 1 could be done in half the time with a chat window today. 21 cannot be sped up at all. Here is which.

Exposure means published research judged an AI could halve the time a task takes, at the same quality. It does not mean the task stops needing a person. How to read this

Also called
Desktop OperatorElectronic Prepress Operator (EPP Operator)Electronic Prepress Technician (EPP Tech)Plate MakerPlate MounterPre-Press ProoferPrepress OperatorPrepress SpecialistPrepress StripperPrepress Technician
Reachable today Needs software built first Cannot be sped up
25
tasks rated for this occupation
5%
hold a degree, from a survey of 33
26k
people do this job in the US
40 of 107
least protected in production

Every task, and what AI can do with it

These are O*NET's task statements for this occupation, exactly as written, sorted into the three bands by the ratings behind this report. Nothing has been reworded.

Reachable with a chat window today

1
  • Perform minor deletions, additions, or corrections to completed plates, on or off printing presses, using tusche, printing ink, erasers, and needles

Only with software built on top

3
  • Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced
  • Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment
  • Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths

Cannot be sped up

21
  • Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece
  • Proofread and perform quality control of text and images
  • Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer
  • Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film
  • Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs
  • Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate
  • Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes
  • Punch holes in light-sensitive plates and insert pins in holes to prepare plates for contact with positive or negative film
  • Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing
  • Inspect developed film for specified results and quality, using magnifying glasses and scopes, forwarding acceptable negatives or positives to other workers or to customers
  • Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making
  • Arrange and mount typeset material and illustrations into paste-ups for printing reproduction, based on artists' or editors' layouts
  • Operate and maintain a variety of cameras and equipment, such as process, line, halftone, and color separation cameras, enlargers, electronic scanners, and contact equipment
  • Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels
  • Perform close alignment or registration of double and single flats to sensitized plates prior to exposure to produce composite images
  • Perform tests to determine lengths of exposures, by exposing plates, scanning line copy, and comparing exposures to tone range scales
  • Mix solutions such as developing solutions and colored coating solutions
  • Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color
  • Activate scanners to produce positive or negative films for the black-and-white, cyan, yellow, and magenta separations from each original copy
  • Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers
  • Mount negatives and plates in cameras, set exposure controls, and expose plates to light through negatives to transfer images onto plates
What this does not say

This is not a prediction about your job

Nobody surveyed an employer. Tasks are counted equally, so a percentage here is a share of the list rather than a share of your week. And the ratings were made in 2023, which makes every figure a floor rather than a ceiling.

It must never be used to select anyone for redundancy. The full limits are here.

Where to go next

This is the standard task list for the title. The useful next question is which of the tasks you actually do should go near AI, and which should not.

Sort your own tasks Read the full report

Exposure ratings from Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs, Science 384, 1306–1308, 2024, used under the MIT licence. This page includes information from the O*NET Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. People Team AI has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Employment figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.