Will AI replace Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers?

What this score means

Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers is among the least exposed roles in Public Sector / Government. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 19 out of 100 it scores 6 points below the Public Sector / Government average of 25. Across the 3 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 16 to 22, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers, most central first, showing 12 of 15.

• 01Patrol or monitor recreational areas, such as trails, slopes, or swimming areas, on foot, in vehicles, or from towers.
• 02Rescue distressed persons, using rescue techniques and equipment.
• 03Contact emergency medical personnel in case of serious injury.
• 04Examine injured persons and administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary, using training and medical supplies and equipment.
• 05Warn recreational participants of inclement weather, unsafe areas, or illegal conduct.
• 06Maintain quality of pool water by testing chemical levels.
• 07Complete and maintain records of weather and beach conditions, emergency medical treatments performed, and other relevant incident information.
• 08Instruct participants in skiing, swimming, or other recreational activities and provide safety precaution information.
• 09Inspect recreational equipment, such as rope tows, T-bars, J-bars, or chair lifts, for safety hazards and damage or wear.
• 10Inspect recreational facilities for cleanliness.
• 11Observe activities in assigned areas, using binoculars, to detect hazards, disturbances, or safety infractions.
• 12Operate underwater recovery units.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 3 research sources that scored Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
• 02GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 03AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Aquatics Coordinator · Aquatics Lifeguard · Aquatics Specialist · Beach Attendant · Beach Lifeguard · Bus Monitor · Certified Lifeguard · Certified Ski Patroller and related titles

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