---
title: "Will AI Replace Chefs? (2026)"
description: "BLS rates chefs' exposure to AI as moderate. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+6.6% projected)."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-chefs"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Chefs? (2026)

**Short answer:** Unlikely. BLS rates the work's exposure to AI as moderate, below the middle of the pack, and still projects employment to grow faster than average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places chefs in its moderate AI exposure category, below the middle of the pack: some of the work overlaps with what AI can do, much of it does not. BLS projects employment to change by +6.6% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 25,200 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Moderate | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 60/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +6.6% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 25,200 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $62,470 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate (this job) | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Hands-on work with tools and objects: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Coaching and developing others: 3.9/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Performing general physical activities: 3.7/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Repetitive motions: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Email: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Repeating the same tasks: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Getting information: 3.9/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## O\*NET tasks

- Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
- Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
- Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
- Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
- Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.
- Check the quantity and quality of received products.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace chefs?**

Unlikely. BLS rates the work's exposure to AI as moderate, below the middle of the pack, and still projects employment to grow faster than average. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +6.6% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 25,200 openings a year.

**How exposed are chefs to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Chefs are in the moderate category, alongside 193 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a chef's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are repetitive motions, email and repeating the same tasks. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions, hands-on work with tools and objects and coaching and developing others. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a chef a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, chefs score 60 out of 100, higher than 85% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $62,470 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/chef.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology