{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/dishwashers/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Dishwashers", "soc_code": "35-9021", "category": "Food", "us_employment": 477450, "median_annual_wage": 34810 }, "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 38, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 16, "embodiment": 17, "liability_shield": 1, "trust_premium": 2, "judgment_accountability": 2 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "Scraping congealed food off irregular plates, reaching into a three-compartment sink, wrangling a warped sheet pan, and knowing a burnt stockpot needs a soak instead of a rack pass are grip-and-judgment-of-the-hands tasks no software output replaces — 16 rather than 19 because the machine cycle itself, rack conveyors, and dish return automation already absorb part of the volume in high-throughput kitchens.", "embodiment": "You stand for the whole shift on wet quarry tile, lift 40-pound bus tubs and full trash bags, work near 180°F final rinse and caustic detergent, and move through a line where cooks, servers, and delivery pallets change the floor layout every ten minutes — a 17 rather than 20 because it is at least indoors within one fixed room, not a roof or a roadside.", "liability_shield": "No state licence exists for the dish pit; the food handler card some counties require is a short online quiz, and it is the certified food protection manager, not you, whose name is on the health inspection and who answers for a failed sanitizer test.", "trust_premium": "Guests never learn your name and management swaps dish staff shift to shift without a customer noticing — the 2 is for the line cooks who know which dishwasher keeps the sauté pans coming without being asked.", "judgment_accountability": "Sanitizer strip readings, water temperature, and rack sequence are set by the health code and a chart on the wall; your calls are what to soak and when to run a half-rack, decisions that get overridden by whoever is expediting." }, "rationale": "Nothing a dishwasher does is text or screen work, so language AI touches almost none of the job: scraping plates, loading racks, hauling bus tubs, sanitizing pots, mopping floors, and stocking the line all happen in a hot, wet, cramped, constantly changing space that current robotics handles poorly and cheaply-priced labor makes uneconomical to automate. The exposure is not AI — it's conveyor machines, disposable serviceware, and restaurant closures shifting the work rather than replacing the worker. No license, no client relationship, and almost no discretion means there is no moat beyond the body doing the work.", "outlook": "Dishwashing survives the AI wave largely intact through 2035 — the pressure comes from conveyor machines, disposable serviceware, and restaurant economics, so wages stay low even as the job persists.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "embodiment", "change": "Cramped wet back-of-house geometry is the actual barrier: if commercial kitchen build-outs stay at current square footage and dish pits keep varied non-standard ware (cast iron, sheet pans, stemware, sous-vide gear), the manipulation problem stays unsolved even as flat-surface loading arms (Dishcraft Robotics' model, which shut down in 2023 after standardizing on its own proprietary plates) get better. Score rises only in the sense of staying pinned high — a shift the other way is standardized ware plus dish-pit-first kitchen redesign in new franchise prototypes.", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 1 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "Health-code sanitation verification becoming a logged, named-person duty: FDA Food Code adoption of per-cycle temperature/chemical-concentration logging with an assigned employee signature (already the direction of Certified Food Protection Manager requirements spreading down from managers) would convert part of the shift into an attestable inspection task rather than throughput labor.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 2 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "Dish/porter roles are increasingly merged into 'kitchen steward' positions that own walk-in temp checks, chemical dilution, allergen-separation washing, and pest-log entries — Ecolab/Sysco-style stewardship programs and hotel union job classifications already define this tier. Where the classification exists with allergen cross-contact responsibility, the role owns a consequential call.", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "State or county food-handler certification becoming individually revocable and personally cited on inspection reports for sanitation failures (California and Texas already require individual food handler cards; the missing piece is personal citation rather than establishment-only fines). This is a weak shield even if it happens — certification is a two-hour course, not a scarce license.", "plausibility": "unlikely", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "Realistic ceiling is low-to-mid 40s. No route to a trust premium exists — diners never learn who washed the plate and there is no market willing to pay for a human at that station. The real displacement pressure here is not AI at all but disposable serviceware, off-premise/delivery formats with no dishware, conveyor machines, and restaurant closures; none of the five dimensions capture that, so a high score here would not mean job security." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 503540, "wage": 21500 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 504770, "wage": 22730 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 514330, "wage": 23970 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 395660, "wage": 25270 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 377040, "wage": 28130 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 431840, "wage": 29080 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 463940, "wage": 31200 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 471670, "wage": 33670 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 477450, "wage": 34810 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": -5.2, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "cooks-restaurant", "title": "Cooks, Restaurant", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 57, "median_wage": 37390, "overlap": 88, "skills_to_close": [ "Active Learning", "Mathematics", "Reading Comprehension", "Complex Problem Solving" ] }, { "slug": "janitors-and-cleaners-except-maids-and-housekeeping-cleaners", "title": "Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 52, "median_wage": 36840, "overlap": 85, "skills_to_close": [ "Active Learning", "Writing", "Equipment Selection", "Reading Comprehension" ] }, { "slug": "refuse-and-recyclable-material-collectors", "title": "Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 55, "median_wage": 49690, "overlap": 81, "skills_to_close": [ "Equipment Maintenance", "Writing", "Reading Comprehension", "Repairing" ] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }