Job Check
Crane and Tower Operators
Operate mechanical boom and cable or tower and cable equipment to lift and move materials, machines, or products in many directions.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Move levers, depress foot pedals, or turn dials to operate cranes, cherry pickers, electromagnets, or other moving equipment for lifting, moving, or placing loads.Mostly human for now
- 02Inspect crane site conditions to determine ground stability.No rating yet
- 03Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage.Mostly human for now
- 04Direct helpers engaged in placing blocking or outrigging under cranes.Mostly human for now
- 05Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, or grappling devices, making repairs, as necessary.Mostly human for now
- 07Inspect cables or grappling devices for wear and install or replace cables, as needed.Mostly human for now
- 08Load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment.Mostly human for now
- 09Direct truck drivers backing vehicles into loading bays and cover, uncover, or secure loads for delivery.Mostly human for now
- 10Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions.AI could speed this up a lot
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
18%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 18% 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 82% 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.
- Move levers, depress foot pedals, or turn dials to operate cranes, cherry pickers, electromagnets, or other moving equipment for lifting, moving, or placing loads.
- Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage.
- Direct helpers engaged in placing blocking or outrigging under cranes.