Will AI replace Sailors and Marine Oilers?

What this score means

Sailors and Marine Oilers is among the least exposed roles in Transportation. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 11 out of 100 it scores 7 points below the Transportation average of 18. Across the 3 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 5 to 20, 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 Sailors and Marine Oilers, most central first, showing 12 of 28.

• 01Tie barges together into tow units for tugboats to handle, inspecting barges periodically during voyages and disconnecting them when destinations are reached.
• 02Attach hoses and operate pumps to transfer substances to and from liquid cargo tanks.
• 03Handle lines to moor vessels to wharfs, to tie up vessels to other vessels, or to rig towing lines.
• 04Read pressure and temperature gauges or displays and record data in engineering logs.
• 05Stand 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.
• 06Maintain government-issued certifications, as required.
• 07Examine machinery to verify specified pressures or lubricant flows.
• 08Maintain a ship's engines under the direction of the ship's engineering officers.
• 09Break out, rig, and stow cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging, or running gear.
• 10Lubricate machinery, equipment, or engine parts, such as gears, shafts, or bearings.
• 11Lower and man lifeboats when emergencies occur.
• 12Sweep, mop, and wash down decks to remove oil, dirt, and debris, using brooms, mops, brushes, and hoses.

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 Sailors and Marine Oilers 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

Able Bodied Seaman (AB Seaman) · Able Bodied Watchman (AB Watchman) · Able Seaman · Aerographer's Mate · Barge Hand · Barge Worker · Bargeman · Boat Crew Deck Hand and related titles

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