Job Check
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers
Tend, control, or operate power-driven, stationary, or portable pumps and manifold systems to transfer gases, oil, other liquids, slurries, or powdered materials to and from various vessels and processes.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Monitor gauges and flowmeters and inspect equipment to ensure that tank levels, temperatures, chemical amounts, and pressures are at specified levels, reporting abnormalities as necessary.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.AI could speed this up a lot
- 03Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of interconnections and capacities of pipelines, valve manifolds, pumps, and tankage.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.Mostly human for now
- 05Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.Mostly human for now
- 06Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 07Tend vessels that store substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials, checking levels of substances by using calibrated rods or by reading mercury gauges and tank charts.Mostly human for now
- 08Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.Mostly human for now
- 09Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.AI could speed this up a lot
- 10Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.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
25%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 50% 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 94% 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.
- Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
- Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.