Job Check
Commercial Divers
Work below surface of water, using surface-supplied air or scuba equipment to inspect, repair, remove, or install equipment and structures. May use a variety of power and hand tools, such as drills, sledgehammers, torches, and welding equipment. May conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, or photograph structures or marine life.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Check and maintain diving equipment, such as helmets, masks, air tanks, harnesses, or gauges.Mostly human for now
- 02Take appropriate safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin.Mostly human for now
- 03Communicate with workers on the surface while underwater, using signal lines or telephones.Mostly human for now
- 04Descend into water with the aid of diver helpers, using scuba gear or diving suits.Mostly human for now
- 05Inspect and test docks, ships, buoyage systems, plant intakes or outflows, or underwater pipelines, cables, or sewers, using closed circuit television, still photography, and testing equipment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Obtain information about diving tasks and environmental conditions.Mostly human for now
- 07Inspect the condition of underwater steel or wood structures.Mostly human for now
- 08Operate underwater video, sonar, recording, or related equipment to investigate underwater structures or marine life.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Repair ships, bridge foundations, or other structures below the water line, using caulk, bolts, and hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 10Cut and weld steel, using underwater welding equipment, jigs, and supports.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
7%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 24% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 71% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Check and maintain diving equipment, such as helmets, masks, air tanks, harnesses, or gauges.
- Take appropriate safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin.
- Communicate with workers on the surface while underwater, using signal lines or telephones.