EXPOSED
The core act — conditioning stems, wiring boutonnieres, building a balanced arrangement in a vase that won't tip, and installing an arch on site — is delicate manual work in unpredictable material conditions that no current robot handles. What AI does take is the surrounding layer: mood boards and design concepts, proposal and quote writing, Instagram content, order intake and substitution scripting, and the seasonal-availability research designers used to do by hand. The bigger threat to this occupation is not AI but retail consolidation and mass-market pre-made bouquets; AI mostly speeds that up by making cheap sellers look designed.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Wiring a boutonniere, taping a bridal bouquet handle, and hydrating and conditioning stems that vary in thickness and rigidity from box to box sits at 13 rather than 17 because the front half of the job — sketching concepts, writing proposals, pricing a recipe, posting the finished photo — is already being done by generative tools, and much of walk-in volume is now pre-made stems dropped into a sleeve.
Hands-on in uncontrolled environments. A 16 reflects work that moves between a cooler at 34°F, a wet bench with knives and stem strippers, and a client's venue where you are on a ladder zip-tying a mechanic to a rented arch before doors open — uncontrolled sites, live loads, and perishable stock, though it stays short of the 18-20 band because much of the week is still at a fixed shop bench.
No licence, no signature requirement. No state licenses floral design; anyone can open a shop tomorrow, and AIFD accreditation is a credential customers rarely ask about and no statute requires, which is why this sits at 1 instead of the 5-10 certification band.
Some relationship component. 12 is the weight of the bride who books you because she saw your work at her sister's wedding, plus the funeral-home and restaurant standing orders that follow a specific designer — real relationship equity, but not 15+, because most transactions are still a phone order or a website click where the buyer never learns your name.
Meaningful discretion. The discretion is real but bounded: you decide substitutions when the peonies arrive blown, adjust proportions to the vessel, and read a grieving family's budget without asking — calls that matter to the customer but carry no safety or legal consequence, which puts it at 8 rather than the 14+ reserved for irreversible high-stakes decisions.
Barbers SAFE
Has AI actually changed your work?