Will AI replace butchers? The data

Butchers and other meat, poultry and fish processing workers cut, trim and prepare meat and seafood for wholesale and retail sale. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics lists their duties as receiving, inspecting and storing meat and seafood, cutting and deboning fish and carcasses, grinding meat, weighing and wrapping products for display or shipment, and cleaning equipment and work areas to meet health and sanitation standards. The group includes butchers in stores, cutters and trimmers, and slaughterers and packers in processing plants.

The short answer: no, on current evidence. The ILO's 2025 index rates butchers, fishmongers and related food preparers as not exposed to generative AI, with a score of 0.13. The BLS projects employment of meat, poultry and fish processing workers to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as average, with about 39,800 openings a year. Projections are estimates, not guarantees.

How exposed butchers are

The International Labour Organization scores occupations' tasks from 0 (cannot be automated with generative AI) to 1 (could be done without a human operator), and groups them into gradients from 1 to 4, with 4 the most exposed; below them sit minimal exposure and not exposed (ILO Working Paper 140, 2025).

Generative AI works with text, images and data, while this job is skilled handwork with knives and saws, so the score is among the lowest. Machines in processing plants are a separate question, covered below.

What the BLS projects

The BLS says food buying has trended toward pre-made and pre-packaged meat products and cuts, a trend expected to continue, which may limit growth for butchers and meat cutters in stores. The same demand is expected to support jobs for meat, poultry and fish cutters and trimmers, work that the BLS says requires dexterity for tasks like deboning and is not easily automated. It adds that continued use of machines in place of slaughterers and meat packers may limit growth for those workers.

Where machines and software are taking on work

• Slaughtering and packing steps in plants, where the BLS says machines continue to replace some workers.
• Weighing, labeling and pricing at the counter and on packing lines.
• Ordering and stock records for a meat department, the kind of desk task generative AI can help draft.

What stays with butchers

• Skilled cutting: deboning and trimming, which the BLS says is not easily automated.
• Quality checks: inspecting meat and seafood when it arrives and before it is sold.
• Food safety: keeping equipment and work areas clean to health and sanitation standards.
• Customers: custom cuts and advice at a service counter.

How the job is changing

The change in this job comes from how people buy meat and from plant machinery, not from generative AI. The BLS expects pre-packaged demand to shift work from store butchers toward cutters and trimmers in plants. The BLS also notes that butchers and meat cutters have some of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations. This page is general information, not career advice.

See also will AI replace food processing workers?, will AI replace bakers? and will AI replace farm workers?

Pay and how to get in

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual pay for butchers and meat cutters at $39,190 in May 2025, against $50,980 for all workers. The typical education needed to enter is: no formal educational credential. See how this job compares in AI exposure by pay and AI exposure by education level.