Job Check
Sailors and Marine Oilers
Stand watch to look for obstructions in path of vessel, measure water depth, turn wheel on bridge, or use emergency equipment as directed by captain, mate, or pilot. Break out, rig, overhaul, and store cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging, and running gear. Perform a variety of maintenance tasks to preserve the painted surface of the ship and to maintain line and ship equipment. Must hold government-issued certification and tankerman certification when working aboard liquid-carrying vessels. Includes able seamen and ordinary seamen.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Maintain government-issued certifications, as required.Mostly human for now
- 02Handle lines to moor vessels to wharfs, to tie up vessels to other vessels, or to rig towing lines.Mostly human for now
- 03Stand watch in ships' bows or bridge wings to look for obstructions in a ship's path or to locate navigational aids, such as buoys or lighthouses.Mostly human for now
- 04Splice and repair ropes, wire cables, or cordage, using marlinespikes, wire cutters, twine, and hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 05Operate, maintain, or repair ship equipment, such as winches, cranes, derricks, or weapons system.Mostly human for now
- 06Sweep, mop, and wash down decks to remove oil, dirt, and debris, using brooms, mops, brushes, and hoses.Mostly human for now
- 07Lubricate machinery, equipment, or engine parts, such as gears, shafts, or bearings.Mostly human for now
- 08Chip and clean rust spots on decks, superstructures, or sides of ships, using wire brushes and hand or air chipping machines.Mostly human for now
- 09Paint or varnish decks, superstructures, lifeboats, or sides of ships.Mostly human for now
- 10Provide engineers with assistance in repairing or adjusting machinery.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
4%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 15% 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 77% 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.
- Maintain government-issued certifications, as required.
- Handle lines to moor vessels to wharfs, to tie up vessels to other vessels, or to rig towing lines.
- Stand watch in ships' bows or bridge wings to look for obstructions in a ship's path or to locate navigational aids, such as buoys or lighthouses.