{"slug": "when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should", "title": "When AI and robots work together, Anthropic says these jobs are at risk. Should gardeners worry?", "summary": "Anthropic updated its research on AI job exposure to examine what happens when AI is combined with robots, finding that the combination pushes many hands-on jobs, including gardening, higher on the disruption scale than its earlier jobs report suggested. The earlier Anthropic report had ranked gardeners among the safest workers because AI could not pull weeds or distinguish a rose from a dandelion. Business Insider's AI Insider writer remains skeptical that robots can handle the messy reality of tasks like pulling weeds by the roots without damaging surrounding plants.", "body_md": "# When AI and robots work together, Anthropic says these jobs are at risk. Should gardeners worry?\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com)\n\nAnthropic's robotics research puts more hands-on jobs in AI's path. But messy tasks such as gardening remain hard to automate.\n\n- [Anthropic](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/anthropic) examined what might happen when AI and robots are combined.\n- That could put more hands-on jobs, including gardening, in the path of automation, Anthropic warned.\n- I'm skeptical that robots can handle the messy reality of pulling weeds.\n\nRemember when [Anthropic's AI jobs report](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-is-tracking-the-jobs-most-exposed-to-ai-disruption-2026-3) suggested gardeners were among the safest workers because AI couldn't pull weeds or tell a rose from a dandelion? I joked about that in [AI Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ai-insider) earlier this year.\n\nWell, Anthropic [updated the research](https://www.anthropic.com/research/what-work-can-robots-do) to freak us all out a bit more.\n\nThis time it asks a bigger question: What happens when you combine AI with robots? That change pushes many hands-on jobs much higher on the disruption scale. On paper, it makes sense. In practice, I'm skeptical.\n\nFor instance, anyone who's spent time working in a garden knows how hard it is to identify the right plant, kneel in awkward spots, and pull a weed out properly by the roots without damaging everything around it.\n\nRobots are improving. But if you've ever watched one tackle a messy real-world task, you'll know there's a long road between a research chart and reality.\n\nThe chart below illustrates how adding robots could change job-task exposure across selected job categories. Cleaning & maintenance includes gardeners along with janitors and similar roles.\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-ai-robots-gardening-jobs-automation-2026-10)\n\nGet AI news in your inbox\n\nDaily digest of what matters in AI.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-a-5wdw", "published_at": "2026-10-17 14:00:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-17 16:35:32.067017+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "robotics", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Business Insider", "AI Insider"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/when-ai-and-robots-work-together-anthropic-says-these-jobs-are-at-risk-should.jsonld"}}