Will AI replace Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers?

What this score means

Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers leans toward the safer end for Transportation. Parts of the role touch tasks AI is getting good at, but the core still depends on hands on work or judgment that resists automation. At 25 out of 100 it scores 5 points above the Transportation average of 20. Across the 5 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 7 to 51, 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 Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers, most central first, showing 12 of 14.

• 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.
• 02Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, stocks used, gauging results, and operating times.
• 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.
• 04Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
• 05Communicate with other workers, using signals, radios, or telephones, to start and stop flows of materials or substances.
• 06Connect hoses and pipelines to pumps and vessels prior to material transfer, using hand tools.
• 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.
• 08Clean, lubricate, and repair pumps and vessels, using hand tools and equipment.
• 09Read operating schedules or instructions or receive verbal orders to determine amounts to be pumped.
• 10Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.
• 11Tend auxiliary equipment such as water treatment and refrigeration units, and heat exchangers.
• 12Add chemicals and solutions to tanks to ensure that specifications are met.

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 5 research sources that scored Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
• 02Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
• 03Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
• 04GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
• 05AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)

Common questions

How likely is AI to replace Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers?

Published research puts Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers at 25 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 5 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.

Do researchers agree on the risk for Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers?

Only partly. Individual estimates for Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers run from 7 to 51 out of 100 across the 5 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.

Which transportation roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published transportation roles to Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers by score are Air Traffic Controllers (25/100), Taxi Drivers (25/100), and Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspectors, Except Aviation (26/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

Also covers

Acid Loader · Acid Pump Operator · Airveyor Operator · Boom Pump Operator · Booster Station Operator · Brewery Pumper · Caustic Pump Operator · Chemical Pumper and related titles

More transportation occupations

• Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspectors, Except Aviation26/100
• Air Traffic Controllers25/100
• Taxi Drivers25/100
• Subway and Streetcar Operators24/100
• First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants23/100
• Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity22/100
• Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors22/100
• Bridge and Lock Tenders21/100